Design of an adjustable temporary socket for a transradial prosthesis

Abstract

The loss of a hand can affect the autonomy of a person and impair their daily life, as well as impact the social and mental status. A prosthesis restores a degree of functionality of the lost limb and can help to decrease phantom pain. Not only the prosthetic socket is one of the crucial factors, whether a prosthesis as a whole is rejected or accepted, but also how fast it can be provided. There is a “Golden Period”, the first month after the amputation, where a prosthesis should be supplied. Current long waiting times are highly influenced by the unique fitting procedure which has to be adjusted for each individual amputee. With a temporary socket, that can be adjusted in its length and diameter, it should be possible to fit different patients with a few quick adaptations and thereby provide them with the opportunity to make their first contact with a prosthesis and so better use the invaluable time of the “Golden Period” before the individual socket can be supplied. In this thesis a design for such a prosthetic socket, called the BeneFit socket, is presented. Different parts were constructed, using Autodesk Fusion 360 and a 3D printer, and assembled into a prototype. This prototype is evaluated in a monocentric, non-interventional explorative study with experts and users, which included a questionnaire. The BeneFit socket fulfils the requirements, that were set for it, such as being easy to don and doff and lightweight. The socket is able to change its diameter as well as its length and perceived to be quite satisfactory according to the survey. The design of the BeneFit socket should still undergo some changes, the most important one being the scaling down of the dimensions.