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Austin Regional Clinic Physician Developing Dynamic Knee Brace
July 6, 2011. Austin Regional Clinic Family Medicine physician Dr. Larry Kravitz is leading a team of students from Anderson High School’s Robotics Team, its instructor, and two UT biomedical engineering students to design and develop a dynamic knee brace.
The goal of the project is to design an innovative osteoarthritis knee brace that could add years to the time before which arthritis patients would need knee replacement surgery and possibly extend the time that motivated runners can still hit the trails as they age.
Funded last year by a $2000 seed money donation from Austin Regional Clinic, Dr. Kravitz and the team have created a working prototype, and are building a robotics simulator to test the prototype. Kravitz, who is also certified in sports medicine, is a triathlete himself, and often treats patients who have increasing knee problems, usually the result of cartilage deterioration and osteoarthritis.
The brace Kravitz envisions could help knee pain patients successfully postpone surgery by relieving some of the daily stress on the joints. Another potential use for the brace also could be to help aging runners. “In my practice, I have studied braces that seek to shift body weight to structures in the knee that are still intact,” says Kravitz. “But there isn’t a good brace that actually transfers part of the body's weight away from the joint, resulting in less stress and wear - an exoskeleton, if you will. It has been a dream of mine for more than three years, but I hadn't found a practical way to begin work until the opportunity with the Robotics Team and the UT students took shape.”
A variety of knee braces have been on the market for years designed to provide support, pain relief and stability. A certain type, known as an unloading knee brace, seeks to improve pain by redirecting the stress of everyday activity from a part of the knee that is deteriorating to a stronger area. The brace is expensive and must be custom designed for the individual patient.
"Our brace takes weight off the entire knee instead of just shifting it to the stronger structures within the knee," continues Kravitz. The brace provides distraction, or separation, of the bones in the joint in addition to transferring part of the user's weight around the knee each time the foot strikes the ground.
"Our goal for a project like this is to help students apply concepts and skills they learn on the robotics team to something with real life application and social impact. In this case, we have been able to create a meaningful collaboration between our students and groups in the community through their exposure to creative professionals," explains AHS instructor John Sperry.
"The robotics students are amazing," added Dr. Kravitz. "They have been leaders in the CAD designs and developing the knee simulator. They know nothing about medicine. They just have bright minds and good problem solving skills and provide valuable input. Everybody involved knows it's a chance of a lifetime to invent something that is useful to society."
"We are pleased to be able to support this project that combines all the best things in our community - good ideas, professional expertise, higher education and the creative thinking brought by some of the brightest and most creative young minds in area public schools," says Dr. Norman Chenven, CEO and Founder, Austin Regional Clinic
The team expects to have a prototype tested and completed later this year and has applied for a patent.
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Austin Regional Clinic is a multispecialty medical group committed to providing comprehensive health care services throughout thegreater Austin area. Founded by three physicians in 1980, it now provides healthcare to over 350,000 area residents with 18 locations in six cities, including both primary and specialty care. It is unique to the Austin area because of the widespread locations, convenient services and quality assurance programs. ARC patients enjoy such conveniences as same-day appointments, daytime urgent care, after hours care, and nursing services via telephone through the night. Most ARC offices also offer on-site radiology and lab services and some offices offer specialty programs such as a travel clinic and weight loss programs. Patients can also request future or same-day appointments from the ARC web site. For more information, visit www.austinregionalclinic.com.