Polycentric ??

What is he on about I hear you mumbling ?

Has he completely lost it !!

Polycentric - Having many centres - OK got that !!

And in the case of my new prosthetic knee, polycentric, means that my lower leg and foot will rotate around the knee with differing radii depending on position.

This will be my new knee, the Total 2000 made by Ossur

Thanks to either Dave or Ruth at the Limb fitting Center. One of them read my last posting, and very kindly did a comment and advised me of the knee that I will have.

For those of you out there who don't know me, I'm a design engineer. So when I first saw this knee I was pretty impressed with it. It is beautifully made, with a lot of thought put into the aesthetics. Mechanically its very cleaver in it's simplicity. I love it !!

As you can see from the photo, its very mechanical with lots of pivot points and connecting arms. It also has swing control adjustments through a 3-phase (3-valve) hydraulic system.

It has a geometric over center locking system, which means standing on it is simplified for the user.

One of the main advantages of this polycentric system is that the leg length is shorter when swinging, this means there is less chance of the foot catching the ground when walking. This makes walking more natural.

From my point of view, this knee combined with the Trias foot, means that with practice I should be able to do most of the things that will make my life normal. Walking at varying speeds from slow to fast will be possible due to the inbuilt hydraulics. Walking over varying terrain, slopes, steps etc will also be possible, so hopefully country walks will be back on the menu. Kneeling is also simple. The Total 2000 knee also allows for cycling, so that's good.

Anybody interested in more technical stuff about this knee, click on this link - Total 2000