While still in its prototype phase, the Tensegrity foot is designed to mimic the action of a jointed foot to allow for a more natural and stable gait. Built by inventor and mechanical engineer Jerome Rifkin, the artificial foot bends like a normal foot and ankle, and conforms to the terrain underneath it.

Council representatives and housing bosses attended an event to mark the completion of a new state of housing development by Lancashire’s New Progress Housing Association this week.

The development, which has taken just over a year to complete, will provide much needed accommodation for people aged over 55 in the village of Hutton. The eight high quality bungalows are now available for affordable rent or for shared ownership and the first tenants are expected to move in next month.

New Progress Housing Association, a leading provider of affordable housing in the North West of England, worked with construction partner Edenfield Homes Ltd. on the project. The Housing Corporation and South Ribble Borough Council provided capital grant to part fund the development.

Each property offers the option of a direct link to New Progress Housing Association’s Telecare service. Telecare provides emergency assistance and a call out service 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It helps maintain independent living with assistive technology such as personal alarms, flood and fire detectors, fall detectors and automated lighting.

The decision to provide housing for rent and shared ownership on the site was based on local housing needs as identified by South Ribble Borough Council. Priority has been given to local applicants.

Representatives of New Progress Housing Association, Progress Housing Group, South Ribble Borough Council, Hutton Parish Council, Lancashire County Council, Edenfield Homes, and the Housing Corporation attended the event.

Bernie Keenan, Managing Director of New Progress Housing Association, said: ‘We would like to thank all our partners who were involved in getting this fantastic scheme to completion, particularly the Borough and Parish Councils who had vision and imagination to make this scheme work.

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - After bone cancer forced the amputation of her right leg below the knee, Eileen Casey got even more bad news: Her insurer told her that she had spent her $10,000 lifetime coverage limit on her temporary limb and that the company wouldn’t pay for a permanent one.

“It was shocking to find out I was going to have to take out a loan to buy myself a leg so I could keep working and living independently,” Casey said. At the bank, she said, she burst into tears when they asked what the loan was for.

Since then, Casey has joined a nationwide fight by amputees and the prosthetics industry to get the states and Congress to require fuller coverage for artificial limbs. The insurance industry is fighting the effort, saying such mandates drive up costs and reduce the flexibility customers want.

The group of Methuen High students entered the noncompetitive Assistive Technology Design Fair at University of Massachusetts Lowell earlier this month. Their task was to meet elderly or disabled people, learn about a problem they have and build a device to make life easier for them. Nine students participated in teams of three, according to emerging technologies teacher Larry Lambert.

The fair’s rules barred the students from spending more than $150 on their project.

Kristen Bateson’s team built a coloring table for Gabe Bisono, 13, who has Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and is hearing impaired.

A new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham indicates that the OtisKnee Custom Fit Knee™ Replacement system may have a positive impact on length of hospital stay, range of motion, pain level and patient satisfaction immediately following total knee replacement surgery. The study abstract, titled “MRI-Guided Custom-Fit Total Knee Replacement: The First Six Weeks,” was presented at the joint Alabama Orthopedic Society and Mississippi Orthopedic Society annual meeting on May 3, 2008 in Sandestin, Fla. by Herrick Siegel, M.D., associate professor of surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and lead investigator of the study.

The piano bench or chair that is the destination for the ‘to’ transfer is another issue altogether. Most benches or chairs have a poor center-of-gravity and are too prone to tipping over. A local machine shop or cabinetry maker can be engaged to make different legs for your mother’s favorite piano bench or chair, to attach ballast weights at floor level (say, 5 kg steel or lead weight per leg) with ‘block’ feet 10 cm square or more so that the chair will not tip. You may want to have a ‘grab bar’ added to an existing bench that you have, so that there is an obvious and reliable grip for your mom to aim for as the transfer proceeds. (Grabbing the piano around the keyboard is obviously not safe or reliable.)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older adults with knee arthritis may be able to reduce some of the load on their knee joint by walking with a cane, a new study suggests.

Australian researchers found that when they had 20 knee arthritis patients walk with a cane, it lessened the force on the inner side of the knee joint with each step.

All of the study participants were older than 50 and suffering from medial knee osteoarthritis — a common form of arthritis that affects the side of the joint closer to the midline of the body.

The findings suggest that the majority of people with this type of knee arthritis can reduce the “load” on the inner knee by using a cane, senior researcher Dr. Rana S. Hinman told Reuters Health.

In theory, this could slow the progression of the arthritis, though that is not yet proven, said Hinman, a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne School of Physiotherapy.

“This may have implications for a reduced risk of disease progression over time,” she said, “but research is needed to determine whether this really is the case.”

Hinman and her colleagues report the findings in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

The study included 40 men and women with painful medial knee arthritis. The researchers used a six-camera motion analysis system to closely study each patient’s gait as he or she walked — both barefoot and while wearing comfortable shoes.

Half of the study participants also had their gait analyzed while using a cane on the side opposite of the painful knee.

In general, Hinman’s team found, the cane reduced the force on the inner knee.

On the other hand, walking while wearing shoes put more stress on the joint than walking barefoot did.

It’s not clear why shoes had this effect, according to the researchers. And since walking around barefoot is not practical, at least outside of home, no one is recommending that knee arthritis sufferers try it.

Instead, more studies are needed to see what types of shoes are best for people with medial knee arthritis, Hinman and her colleagues say.

In the meantime, it is a good idea for women with the condition to avoid high heels, Hinman noted, since they are likely to increase the force on the inner knee. She added that shoe inserts called laterally- wedged insoles — which are angled to be higher on the outer edge of the foot — can also reduce the force on the inner side of the knee.

However, Hinman said, studies have not yet conclusively shown that the insoles actually improve knee arthritis symptoms.

SOURCE: Arthritis Care & Research, May 15, 2008.