This thread is somewhat wacky but has a serious element; I confesss to being guilty of Fantasizing about foot orthoses.
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Simon Spooner speculated within a great article “Foot orthoses” published recently in Foot & Ankle Specialist
“The use of direct milling and 3D printing makes this process much easier. Combining this with finite element modeling allows the manner in which the orthoses deforms under load and thus the reaction forces at the foot–orthosis interface to be better controlled for during the design process and the orthoses to effectively be “calibrated” for the individual in terms of its load/ deformation characteristics”
As a holy grail for fabrication I would definitely follow any path leading towards this.
However there remains a problem. Even if material characteristics can be “designed” (to fit individual need), the individual’s need remains indeterminate initially because the ZOOS (read article if this is unclear) are only likely to be discovered empirically. This is in part because parameters describing the effect of the environment which the body functions within and the physiological response to stress cannot be usefully predicted to allow a model to be created around which calibration is possible. I would speculate also that trying to work within a range of values which might be calculated for a specific population segment would be too wide to model with sufficient precision to predict an individual prescription.
Simon also mentioned
“Within the next few decades, we may even see the use of magneto-rheological fluids controlled by a microprocessor that is capable of managing the foot orthoses load/deformation characteristics on a step by- step basis based on input data obtained from force measuring transducers at the base of the foot orthoses”.
I think that this would add useful information but perhaps even with this level of sophistication, empirical iterative testing may be needed to “tune” a foot orthoses optimally.
Also implied was that foot orthoses may be best used if its effect is reduced with time to allow incremental beneficially increased stress to the injured structure(s) after sufficiently healed.
If this is true then rather than attempt a precise prescription from outset, perhaps visionary ideas for foot orthoses design might be best directed towards allowing precise incremental adjustment based on empirical findings.
As Kevin Kirby mentioned, this is currently done, rather crudely but somewhat effectively simply by substituting materials with different properties and modifying contours and posts to usefully influence amount and position of ground reaction forces as part of foot orthoses design.
Since this thread is speculative in nature I am curious to learn if anyone has thought about ways to exploit the internal geometric structure of solid cellular materials in a way that allows their stiffness to be “adjustable”?
As 3D printing technology develops, fabrication resolution may reach a point where it may be possible to start to design cellular materials from ABS or that other layering technology develops allowing different materials to be used.
If this is true I could envisage being able to tune material stiffness by altering angulations, thickness and density of cell walls in predicable ways. A usefully adjustable material would allow its properties to be influenced and memorized by some external force.
This would likely need to occur at a molecular level.
Just for fun (or fantastically the start of a nice little earner) it occurred to me that this may be possible by impregnating the ABS material used for printing with magnetically sensitive metallic particles.
The foot orthoses is then printed with ABS using a cellular structure which can be modified by applying a pulsed magnetic field. This would heat the material according to frequency of pulse (friction from vibrating particles) allowing bending and altering the position of cellular structure by applying magnetic force vectors strategically.
Anyone up for testing this idea as an exercise of informed imagination to the point where it might be taking seriously or should we stick to using our grinders for the time being?
Cheers
Martin
Foot and Ankle Clinic
1365 Grant Ave.
Winnipeg Manitoba R3M 1Z8
Phone [204] 837 FOOT (3668)
Fax [204] 774 9918
www.winnipegfootclinic.com
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