1. Soft mechanotherapy device for the lower leg.
Soft mechanotherapy device for the lower leg. The internal fabric chambers of the mechanotherapy device connect to the three pneumatic outputs of the ring oscillator [i.e., PA, PB, and PC; (A)], and the device sequentially contracts around a human user’s leg, “pumping” fluid up the leg for treatment of conditions such as lymphedema and chronic venous disease and for prevention of deep vein thrombosis. The device is easily applied to the lower leg with Velcro closures [top closure open (B); all closures closed (C)]. (D) We demonstrated propagation of a low-pressure region up the leg experimentally, using a pressure-sensitive mat placed between the mechanotherapy device and the leg; the low-pressure region corresponds to the region of fluid inside of the leg that is “pumped” upward, toward the torso (blue corresponds to a gauge pressure of 0 kPa, and red corresponds to about 50 kPa; 100 kPa ≈ 1 atm).
Daniel J. Preston et al. Sci. Robotics 2019;4:eaaw5496
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