Public Funding for Orthoped Ltd

An innovative splint is being developed to assist adults with footdrop to walk safely and with more energy efficiency. Footdrop is muscle weakness/paralysis resulting in difficulty lifting the front part of the foot, which causes frequent falls. The benefit of using the OrthoPed splint is that ankle muscles will be used to lift the foot when walking, with the OrthoPed splint providing the extra support that the person is lacking. At present there are limited options for this population and the current market leading splints are often not the most appropriate device. The OrthoPed splints design has been created using many patient and clinician feedback events and there is currently a 2-phase clinical study running in collaboration with a university and 2 NHS Trusts evaluating the OrthoPed splint compared to market leaders. The children's sizes of the OrthoPed splint have been laboratory tested and now we are ready to laboratory test the adult sizes. This project will allow rapid development and repeated laboratory testing to ensure that each of the 5 adult sizes of OrthoPed are fit for purpose.

An innovative splint is being developed to assist children with footdrop to walk safely and with more energy efficiency. Footdrop is muscle weakness/paralysis resulting in difficulty lifting the front part of the foot, which causes frequent falls. The benefit of using the OrthoPed splint is that ankle muscles will be used to lift the foot when walking, with the OrthoPed splint providing the extra support that the child is lacking. Currently there isn't an active-assisted splint to support small children with moderate footdrop, the OrthoPed splint fills this need. The OrthoPed splint has been tested in a laboratory and is now ready for a feasibility study focussing on recruitment of children with footdrop, useability and compliance with study procedures (walking patterns and gait analysis). This project is in collaboration with the University of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust. We will be able to use the data collected to demonstrate that the OrthoPed splint improves the walking pattern of children with footdrop. This should help us to gain further funding in the future for the clinical trials needed before the OrthoPed splint can be sold.