The Making of My Robotic Leg

For two years I have been fighting to walk again. I have shared this many times here, but for a quick recap – a little over two years ago I had compartment syndrome that went undiagnosed which means it wasn’t surgically treated and this caused paralysis in my left leg. That set me on a journey of learning to navigate life in a wheelchair and exploring every physical therapy and mobility option I could which led me and my medical team to search for an exoskeleton.

My last post detailed how I went through hours of painful and exhausting therapy and equipment trials until my journey culminated in the bionic exoskeleton made by Ottobock – the C-Brace. My first experience with the C-Brace was with their trial unit which was large and heavy. As Ottobock said, it was “one size fits no one” and is just designed to determine if a patient is a good candidate for improved functionality with the C-Brace.

The C-Brace works by sensing where your body is in space and unlocking the knee for the swing through phase and then providing the perfect amount of resistance and support as your weight is shifted into that leg in order to swing your other leg forward. As you can see from the video below steps with the demo brace were small, shaky and slow, but it was apparent that this was a brace that held the possibility of much greater mobility for me. The robotic frame attached to my leg got me from wheelchair to standing and at least shuffling. After a year of staring those parallel bars down I knew that making it through that gauntlet is the first step to freedom.

After that it was time to wait in uncertainty and hopeful anticipation, until the the day came for ABI Prosthetics & Orthotics to make a cast so that my C-Brace could be fabricated. There were lots of measurements and fine tuning – here are a couple snapshots of the process of casting that I know well by now.

Then there was more waiting, this time on the edge of my seat in eager anticipation, still trying to pinch myself because it felt too good to be true that I would be up and walking in a normal gait within a few weeks. I was used to anything that has to do with medical equipment or appointments taking at least twice as long as the estimate, but that was not the case with the Ottobock C-Brace and before I knew it I was back at the ABI P&O office to try on the prototype brace. During this session I wore a mock up of the final C-Brace and stood on and in front of digital sensors that created a 3-D model of me and the brace so that my orthotist could make adjustments to make sure that my standing alignment would be correct. We tried on all the shoes to make sure I would be stable in Doc Martens and Chuck Taylors, and then the prototype was sent off to Ottobock so they could make my robotic leg.

All of this was to make sure the exoskeleton fit my leg like a glove, but the real magic would be in the smart knee component mounted on the outside of the C-Brace. It would contain the same technology that the C-Leg revolutionized the world of prosthetics with. In my next post I will share what the C-Brace has enabled me to do in the first few weeks that I have had it and what my hopes are for the future. In the meantime here is another glimpse of life with the C-Brace…