KneeBooster®

When your knee cannot bear your weight without pain, you reach out for help. Some of the available options other than pain relief drugs are:
- Crutches: can do the job but are very cumbersome and limiting
- Widely advertised “wrap around knee braces”: are helpful in some cases but do not have the load bearing function.
- And the gold standard: artificial knees that require a surgical intervention, costly and require lifestyle adjustments.

The KneeBooster® is designed to offer a new option: an easy on, easy off, wearable load bearing shock absorbing device that offers pain relief customized to meet individual needs using an adjustable mini shock absorber incorporated in the design.

Benefits provided:
-Non intrusive wearable device that maintains the freedom of movement of the leg and provides customizable pain relief in the affected knee joint.
-The device can be worn on top of clothing or under loose clothing.
-Judicious use of this device prevents further damage to the knee joint and may even help the healing process with adequate therapy protocol implementation.

Design outline:
This unique design utilizes the movement of the legs of the user to create leverage that is used to actuate a mini-shock absorber retained in the parallel exostructure fastened to the legs of the user. As the individual walks, from heel strike to the full load bearing stance in the vertical position, the shock absorber is actuated and responds preferentially before the knee experiences any forces. The mechanism in the knee booster can be adjusted to provide the required shock absorber travel and the shock absorber can be adjusted to provide the required force response.
For ease of manufacturability, the current product design permits use of presently available materials, technologies and procedures. Future plans include use of lighter materials such as graphene and specifically designed mini shock absorbers.

Cost overview:
Crutches are sold for about $25.00
Wrap around “knee braces” are advertised for over $1000.00
Knee replacement surgery costs about $49,500.
The Knee Booster® is a unique product that provides value that cannot be obtained from competing products listed above.
While the production costs are estimated to be about $500.00 the added costs of interfacing with the customer as required to customize the application, could bring the totals to $2500.00. Large scale production will offer lower production costs.

Market Outlook
- The number of people with damaged knees that are unable to bear load is quite large. Left untended these knees enter a spiral of pain and loss of function.

A September 11, 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that a lot people in the later years of their life experience this load bearing problem due to meniscal tears: over 30% of people in the 50 + years old group and up to 50% in the 80+ years old group.

KneeBooster® is expected to help these people live without pain and possibly reclaim their preferred lifestyle.