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Prosthetics for Farmers and Ranchers: What Is Used and What Is Needed Craig Heckathorne, MS, Project Director Kathryn Waldera, MS Margaret Parker, MS Stefania Fatone, PhD, BPO(Hons) Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research DISCLAIMER • Prosthetic components and farm equipment named and shown in this presentation are for illustration purposes only. • The use of a name or image is neither an endorsement of a product nor an indication of any specific problem or fault. ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 2 Project Background Farming and ranching are dangerous occupations • Bureau of Labor Statistics: in 2011 in the USA, farming and ranching together had the • 7th highest fatality rate (25.3 per 100,000 FTE workers) • 2nd highest number of fatalities (260) ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 3 extraction from grain auger extraction from corn picker • The National Safety Council reported that among agricultural workers “one out of every ten… will suffer an amputation while on the job” (Kircher, 2003) • 5 to 6 % will be major amputations (Brown, 2003) ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 4 • The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) identified farmers with disabilities as an underserved population with regard to assistive technology (Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, 2008) • Many disabled farmers and ranchers are geographically isolated, working in remote settings far away from amputee clinics and prosthetics services ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 5 Project Goals 1. Identify activities supported or hindered by use of a prosthesis 2. Document best practices and provide this information as educational materials to farmers and ranchers and to the prosthetists who serve them 3. Improve prosthetic technology through analysis of failed components and engineering development projects ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 6 Collaboration • Our project is a collaboration with the National AgrAbility Project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture • AgrAbility provides services to farmers and ranchers with disabilities, including technical assistance, information dissemination and professional training to consumers and professionals ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 7 First Step … Gather information to: 1.Determine specific problems encountered by farmers and ranchers who use prostheses or had tried and abandoned the use of prostheses 2.Better understand the prosthetic needs of farmers and ranchers with amputations by gathering information with an engineering perspective • Identify - components suspension techniques materials used failure modes ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 8 Procedures November 2008 to March 2011 phone or in-person interviews Farmers with amputations (n=40) Ranchers with amputations (n=0) Prosthetists who serve farmers and ranchers (n=26) Goal: 50 farmers & ranchers 25 prosthetists ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 9 Participants: Farmers • Upper • Limb • (n=17) • 1 partial hand 1 wrist disarticulation 7 unilateral transradial 2 bilateral transradial • 3 unilateral transhumeral • 1 bilateral transhumeral • 2 shoulder disarticulation Lower • 15 unilateral transtibial • 6 unilateral transfemoral • 1 unilateral knee • 1 transtibial & Limb disarticulation transfemoral (n=23) ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 10 Participants: Farmers Upper-limb 1 1 Lower-limb 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 10 1 5 5 2 ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research 11 AgrAbility NTW — 11 Participants: Farmers Cause of amputation ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 12 Power Take-off (PTO) ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 13 Augers ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 14 Corn Picker ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 15 Round Baler http://balerweb.blogspot.com/ ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 16 End Part 1 ©2012 Northwestern University Prosthetics-Orthotics Center for Education and Research AgrAbility NTW — 17