Mechanisms and materials of orthotic calipers for polio infected patients — A review

According to the World Health Organization it was seen that 10-15% people suffers from one or the other kind of disability. Disability is affecting millions of families worldwide. It may be categorized into various forms such as disability related to speech, vision, hearing, locomotor. It has been found by the researchers that mainly females have higher rate of disability as compared to males, as the population is increasing day by day the disability is expected to increase. Polio is a type of locomotor disability which is incurable disease due to which the patients muscle becomes weak and they require a support for walking and moving. An orthotics or caliper is used to repair, support, immobilize a body part in order to help patients suffering from locomotor disability restore weight bearing capabilities to the affected legs and permit the patient to steer while risk of falls and additional fractures. The target of this paper is to grasp about the different kinds of caliper design made their design modification and the material being used nowadays. The current designs of calipers are made of Steel and Aluminum. Material should be chosen in such a way that it should be as light as possible in weight and density must lie between aluminum and stainless steel. Aluminum is lighter in weight than steel but it does not give needed stiffness for the caliper design. The design is done victimization CAD tools. A pilot example is formed in PVC and field tested to work out if the changes are often simply performed by the patient by matching its strength, ductility, hardness. Based on feedback from field testing, the ultimate model is intended victimization appropriate material.