[sudo-discuss] hacking broken ankles (knee scooters, etc)

[Romy Ilano]

It's pretty cool how fast the designs change for these "peg leg" companies,
and how quick the prices drop. I'm not sure if it's because of
globalization*, quicker product cycle times, China, and/or the fact that
these may or may not be FDA certified, etc.

You mention LegFlex<http://gajitz.com/running-start-temporary-prosthetic-for-lower-leg-injuries/>,
which just launched to great fanfare, but there's already a similar product
on the market, iWalkFree / iWalk 2.0 <http://iwalk-free.com>that I'm
ordering... it's $150 and it dropped from $600 or so a few years ago.

I'm also seeing the knee scooters, and their prices have plummeted from
several hundreds $ to under $199.

Are these cheap medical prices good or bad? I'm wondering if the prices
would be this low if these were automatically covered by health insurance
and/or medicaid. As it stands they are only optional, so that might be why
the prices are low. All other medical devices tend to keep their prices
exorbitantly high.

I just saw a self-professed "redneck" hack of a knee scooter - it looks
pretty cool and definitely expands my definition of "hacker"
http://www.2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=167720


I'm wondering how creative, industrious and skilled I can be "hacking" my
walking aids in the upcoming weeks. It's a lot harder than programming ;)



=============================

Romy Ilano
romy at snowyla.com




On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 9:00 PM, Jake <jake at spaz.org> wrote:

> oh no romy that sucks!
>
> well, people used to use prosthetic legs which were basically a lower leg
> that you kneel on top of.  so picture an upside-down L and your bad leg is
> bent at the knee 90 degrees.  your lower leg is strapped onto the top part
> of the upside down L.
>
> you put a bunch of padding on the top, and use padding on the back of your
> calf, and then you can wear it for hours and walk on it just fine.
>
> people whose feet or legs were chopped below the knee walked around on
> such things their whole life.
>
> like this:
> http://gajitz.com/running-start-temporary-prosthetic-
> for-lower-leg-injuries/
>
>
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