Stepping up stability

A new prosthetic foot has been developed to help improve the wearer’s stability and prevent falls by working more like a natural limb. Many artificial feet have flat and stiff soles, which can make it difficult to walk over uneven terrain. Wearers often to have use compensatory movements to balance, risking discomfort and pain and increasing their cognitive load.

To tackle these problems, the more flexible SoftFoot Pro was designed “to enhance mobility, safety and quality of life for those with lower-limb loss”.

Its development has been revealed in an article in Nature Communications, describing the foot as “an anthropomorphic and adaptive prosthetic foot featuring a flexible and inextensible sole that passively adapts to obstacles, widening the ground contact area”.

The study added: “The more even load distribution between the two limbs reduces compensatory strategies and gait asymmetries, resulting in biomechanics closer to that of unimpaired individuals. These findings hold promise for enhancing quality of life for individuals with limb loss, potentially improving stability and reducing fall risk.”