1. { Flex-Foot Cheetah By: Zachary Campo

2.  Prosthetics are artificial limbs used to replace a no longer existing limb.  The creation of prosthetics dates back to 2750 BC where the Egyptian Dynasty first put to use splints.  It was not until 1946 that major advances were made in the attachment of prosthetics. Introduction

3.  As advances in technology were made, prosthetics began being designed for more strenuous tasks.  Lower leg amputees wanted the ability to run again.  Decided to stop mimicking how actual human leg works and go in new direction  Designed a “j” curve to allow for running  Now Flex-Foot Cheetah has allowed double leg amputee Oscar Pistorius to compete in Olympics vs. able bodied people Prosthetics in Track

4.  Van Phillips created the prosthetic in 1996  Mimicking motions of the hind legs of a cheetah in mid stride, Phillips designed the Flex-Foot Cheetah.  Created by carbon fibers  High and low stress points vary in amount of fibers  Allows for compression and also return to normal state  Attaches externally to body Flex-Foot Cheetah Design

6.  After experiments were performed, results from Ossur company show that:  It takes 25% more energy to move a prosthetic over a human limb  90% energy is returned from the Flex-Foot to the runner while 249% energy is returned by a human limb  Lightweight compared to other prosthetics  Hard to maneuver around track with lack of ankles  Comfortable for short periods of time Results

7.  Amputees could not compete with able-bodied runners because prosthetics were lacking in effectiveness  With development of Flex-Foot now amputees can compete alongside able-body runners  Oscar Pistorius proved this in the 2012 London Olympics Flex-Foot Changes Track

8.  People believe that the spring provided by the Flex-Foot plays an unfair advantage for the runner  Provided that the prosthetic does compress and return energy, people assume its more energy than a human leg would provide  Glancing back at the numbers from the results section, this is found to be incorrect Controversy

9.  Cost per unit is between $15,000-18,000  Most often not covered by health insurance  Expensive but the ability to run again makes it worth it Price

10.  As technology advances so do the effectiveness of the prosthetics created  Prosthetics may be designed like shoes in the future, an amputee may have a different prosthetic for every activity  As springs are implemented into the design, they may act like muscles and return a higher amount of energy to the user  Very possible that having a prosthetic will be more beneficial than a human leg in the future Advances in Product

11.  http://2012currentevents2.wikispaces.com/file/view/i mages-4.jpeg/340822904/images-4.jpeg (3/24/13)   http://www.ossur.com/?pageid=13462 (3/23/13)   http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/abetterman80/me dia/ (3/32/13) olympicrunner_60689335_oscar_pistorius.jpg.html (3/23/13)   http://asset2.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/ne/p/2005/412r unner500x572.jpg (3/23/13)   http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2 012/08/no-advantage-to-being-an-amputee-a- defense-of-oscar-pistoriuss-prostheses/260878/ (3/23/13) Works Cited