Granted Patent B2

US 12,208,025 · App. 18/581,180 · Granted Jan 28, 2025

Inventors: Joshua Pelz (San Diego, CA); Luca De Vivo (San Diego, CA); Falko Kuester (La Jolla, CA); Herbert J. Barrack (San Diego, CA)

Assignee: The Regents of The University of California

A61F2/60A61F2/5046A61F2/6607A61F2/80B33Y50/00B33Y80/00A61F2002/505A61F2002/607A61F2002/6621A61F2002/6642A61F2002/6685

Abstract

Claims (32)

1. A transtibial prosthetic device comprising:

a pylon configured as a unitary truss structure formed of a plurality of elongated supports interconnected at nodes and having open spaces between supports of the plurality of elongated supports, the unitary truss structure comprising a polymer; and

a foot-ankle complex extending from a base of the pylon, the foot-ankle complex comprising:

a sole portion;

an s-shaped posterior portion extending from a first location on the sole portion to the base of the pylon; and

an s-shaped anterior portion extending from a second location on the sole portion to a terminal portion of the s-shaped anterior portion near the base of the pylon, the terminal portion being unconnected to the base of the pylon;

wherein the s-shaped posterior portion and the s-shaped anterior portion are separated from each other by a gap that extends from the terminal portion to the sole portion.

2. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein near the terminal portion of the s-shaped anterior portion, the gap runs transverse to a central longitudinal axis of the pylon and along the base of the pylon.

3. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein the terminal portion of the s-shaped anterior portion is directly below an anterior end of the base.

4. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein the gap widens to a teardrop shape in a lower portion of the gap near the sole portion.

5. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein the gap is located within a volume below the base of the pylon, the volume having a cross-sectional area of the base of the pylon.

6. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein an upper portion of the s-shaped posterior portion and an upper portion of the s-shaped anterior portion have curvatures that are concentric with each other.

7. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein the s-shaped posterior portion is solid and thicker than the s-shaped anterior portion, and the s-shaped anterior portion includes a pass-through opening.

8. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein:

the unitary truss structure has a non-repeating geometry; and

at least some of the supports of the plurality of elongated supports are oriented diagonally with respect to a central longitudinal axis of the pylon and curve three-dimensionally around the central longitudinal axis.

9. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the supports curve into the nodes, define a central open cavity, and curve around the central open cavity.

10. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein the unitary truss structure is an endoskeletal design in which the polymer is a thermoplastic material, and the unitary truss structure is configured to enable adjustment of alignment by thermoforming.

11. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein the foot-ankle complex has an upper portion that is unitary with a lowest portion of the pylon, to form the base of the pylon.

12. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , wherein the pylon or the foot-ankle complex comprises multiple materials with different stiffnesses.

13. A method of manufacturing the transtibial prosthetic device of claim 1 , comprising printing the pylon and the foot-ankle complex as a unitary single piece using 3D printing.

14. A transtibial prosthetic device comprising:

a pylon configured as a unitary truss structure formed of a plurality of elongated supports interconnected at nodes and having open spaces between supports of the plurality of elongated supports, wherein the unitary truss structure has a non-repeating geometry, and at least some of the supports of the plurality of elongated supports are oriented diagonally with respect to a central longitudinal axis of the pylon and curve three-dimensionally around the central longitudinal axis; and

a foot-ankle complex extending as a unitary single piece from a base of the pylon, the foot-ankle complex comprising an s-shaped posterior portion, an s-shaped anterior portion, and a sole portion;

wherein the s-shaped posterior portion and the s-shaped anterior portion both extend from the sole portion, have upper portions with curvatures that are concentric with each other, and are separated from each other by a gap; and

wherein a terminal portion of the s-shaped anterior portion is near the base of the pylon and is unconnected to the base of the pylon.

15. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 14 , wherein the s-shaped posterior portion extends from a first location on the sole portion, and the s-shaped anterior portion extends from a second location on the sole portion, the second location being anterior to the first location.

16. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 14 , wherein the gap extends from the terminal portion to the sole portion and is located directly below the base of the pylon.

17. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 14 , wherein near the terminal portion of the s-shaped anterior portion, the gap runs transverse to the central longitudinal axis of the pylon and along the base of the pylon.

18. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 14 , wherein the terminal portion of the s-shaped anterior portion is directly below an anterior end of the base.

19. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 14 , wherein the pylon is fabricated from a thermoformable material.

20. The transtibial prosthetic device of claim 14 , wherein the pylon or the foot-ankle complex comprises multiple materials with different stiffnesses.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (39)