Finite element analysis of low cost lower limb assistive device

Providing Assistive devices to people with disabilities is a challenge especially in middle to low-income countries. Commercially available assistive devices are out of reach for people with disabilities in such countries due to extremely high costs. Need in such countries is to provide assistive devices at low costs. In our Study we have used the Finite Element Analysis method to find the patterns of stress and deflection on a proposed assistive device for lower limb prostheses. We found that the patterns of stress and deflection do not vary linearly but show an exponential trend when the thickness and width are increased beyond a limit. We also found that spring steel can be effectively used to develop lower limb prosthetic devices. In our study, we have tried to find if low-cost spring steel material can be used to develop self-help devices for people with lower limb disabilities. The spring steel material bought from the scrap market can be a cheap alternative for currently available high-cost materials used to develop assistive devices for lower limb injury. With the help of the findings of this paper, users can build their own assistive devices by repurposing the spring steel. Copyright (C) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.