Designed to make walking with mobility assistance less painful and more comfortable, these crutches employs flexible armbands that are easier to hold in place and distribute weight to parts of the body more capable of carrying it.

Users are are not locked or strapped into the staffs but rather slipped into place; they also make it easy for people to go into a hands-free mode for holding phones, drinks or other objects as well as opening doors.

Flexible straps can be moved along the length of the cradle, customized to user preference. Lifting arms and shifting positions is also made easy. None of this setup requires any kind of specialized tools or complex procedures for operation – the focus with each component, and the whole, is on usability and flexibility of use.

More from the makers: “the ‘m+d crutch’ comes with a standard foot designed to absorb some of the shock of each step. the tread and material flexibility allow the crutch’s foot to conform to the ground and grip it to prevent slipping.”

“The standard foot can be easily removed and replaced with other feet designed for various terrains and activities. alternative feet will be available in the future.”

The post Rest Elbows Not Armpits: Ergonomic Arm-Friendly Crutches first appeared on Gajitz.

Developed by the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs office in Minnesota, this remarkable twist on traditional wheelchairs allows users to not only ‘stand up’ on demand (including paraplegics) but to move and maneuver while upright as well.

Standing wheelchairs are not new, but most lock into position and can only be moved again once the user finishes in one spot and sits back down. This modified invention allows for more flexibility, using a market-made system with a bottom anchoring pad, removing that anchor, and adding a chain drive allowing the user to move around while upright.

For the first time in more than 20 years, John Christensen can reach a book on the top shelf without any help. “Makes life a little easier,” Christensen said. “You don’t have to ask anybody to do something for you.” Dr. Gary Goldish took an existing standing wheelchair, and with the input of engineers and veterans, came up with design chances. “We modified it by adding a drive wheel that separated the push rim from the tire,” Goldish said. “The tire is on the ground each time, but it’s just transferring the load between the front and back faster. And that’s what makes it stable and mobile.”

The post Vertical Wheelchair Rolls User While Seated or Upright first appeared on Gajitz.

The upwardly mobile Scalevo wheelchair is like the electric wheelchair’s badass cousin. Looking a little like a motorcycle and inspired by Segway technology, Scalevo balances on two wheels. When it approaches a set of stairs, a pair of tank treads extend to let the chair easily ascend or descend with no outside help.

The Scavelo rolls around nimbly on its two wheels; when the rider needs to climb a staircase, he backs the seat up to the stairs. The seat lifts up a bit to keep him level at all times, at the same time exposing the tank treads. The treads slowly roll up one step at a time. At the top of the stairs, a tiny set of wheels pop down to make a smooth transition from stair-climbing configuration to the regular riding configuration.

Even when not traversing staircases, the Scavelo is pretty impressive. It’s equipped with headlights and taillights and a body that is far more attractive than we’re used to seeing on a wheelchair. The current iteration of the Scavelo doesn’t move very quickly and the climbing modes have to be set manually, but those issues will be resolved as the technology is refined further.

Created by a team of ten electrical engineering and industrial design students at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Zurich University of the Arts, the Scalevo seen here is a prototype. The students behind it plan to enter it in Cybathlon, an athletic event for physically disabled people using assistive technology.

The post Upwardly Mobile Wheelchair Climbs Staircases With Ease first appeared on Gajitz.

After Andrew Slorance fell from a tree and became a paraplegic at the age of 14, he realized just how primitive and “horrible” wheelchairs are. He spent 20 years envisioning the perfect chair, and eventually he designed the stunning Carbon Black.

Slorance’s design remakes the traditional wheelchair from a stifling metal device to a sleek, gorgeous, minimalist vehicle. Carbon Black is a monocoque design with an integrated chair rather than a separate frame and seat.

Made of carbon fiber, the Carbon Black is exceptionally lightweight and strong. The team behind the design also believes that it is the easiest manual wheelchair in the world to push thanks to its impressive strength to weight ratio.

Pulling apart a standard wheelchair for transport can involve fabric snags, oil stains, and heavy, unwieldy components. The Carbon Black was designed to be simple to transport and has an oil-free design to keep your hands and car upholstery clean. The heaviest component weighs less than eight pounds, making the Carbon Black one of the easiest wheelchairs to independently transfer.

Clothes guards, optional LED lighting system, and fabrics that don’t retain water all make the Carbon Black a wheelchair that focuses more on the user experience and less on the chair itself. It can be built to custom measurements with unique features that help it blend seamlessly into a user’s life without the intrusiveness of a standard chair.

The post Modular Carbon Fiber Wheelchair: More Person, Less Chair first appeared on Gajitz.

The ReWalk, the first FDA-approved exoskeleton for home use, was a tremendous leap forward in mobility solutions for paraplegics. However, the ReWalk requires that the user retains full function of his or her arms and, as such, can only be used by about ten percent of wheelchair users. Dr. Amit Goffer invented the ReWalk and is a wheelchair user himself, but even he can’t use the exoskeleton. That is part of the reason he’s now working with RehaMed Technologies to develop a mobility solution that is closer to a Segway than to a wheelchair.

The new invention is called the UPnRIDE, and it gives users the option to travel sitting or standing. While standing wheelchairs are nothing new, what sets the UPnRIDE apart is its incredible stability. Whether in a sitting or standing position, the user’s center of gravity remains the same. This reduces the chances that the user will fall – but if an accident should take place and it looks like the user is about to fall, safety arms pop out to catch him/her, kind of like the airbag safety system used in cars.

Dr. Goffer is enthusiastic about the prospects of the UPnRIDE in part because of its ability to easily navigate urban environments. While in the standing position the UPnRIDE resembles a Segway, which Dr. Goffer considers an important point for younger wheelchair users who want to avoid the stigma and limitations of being confined to a wheelchair.

Oren Tamari, the CEO of RehaMed Technologies, says that the UPnRIDE is still a couple of years away from being ready for market, but it’s only a few months away from the prototype stage. Thanks to the researchers’ hard work, the UPnRIDE could soon do for quadriplegics and MS patients what the ReWalk is doing for paraplegics already.

The post Finally, a Standing Wheelchair Meant for Quadraplegics first appeared on Gajitz.