Page 30 - Peter Farrelly Issue

Grazian: I would say that we need to have a wide base of support on this side, something that approximates a hand on the other side, so a wide-curved base really helps. It also needed to have this oval shape because some other products on the market, to be specific, have more of a circular, all-the-way-around-similar shape, which could present a problem if you’re going down on your elbows. It would push up—it’s hard to explain, but it would push up the distal part of the hand and put pres- sure on the elbow. Essentially, what we need is to be able to bear weight evenly on both sides and to keep the shoulder in alignment with the other shoulder. I think that kind of gets to your question a little bit more. And I think about that a lot because we’re already at a much higher risk of getting these muscular-skeletal injuries and overuse syndrome over time. Something like yoga is supposed to help strengthen our joints, keep us as symmetrical as possible, stay flexible and strong, which helps us in everyday activities. But if the yoga, itself, is hurting us in a way because we’re twisting ourselves out of alignment, that’s a bigger problem. So, creating something that is keeping us in alignment as we’re try-
ing to keep our joints healthy. That’s where it solves some problems.
Macabuag: I don’t know if it’s helpful, George. Have you seen the full sleeve at all?
Kaplan: I haven’t, no.
Macabuag: It’s basically in a nutshell—we have differ- ent—they’re all soft prosthetics. They’re all built like shoes. They’ve got the structural rigidity to support weight and distribute loads, but they’re flexible, ulti- mately. So, you can tighten them on like an item of clothing, which just seems to make sense because you wear them. And we have ones with different areas of limb difference, but this one that’s really popular is the ALX. So, the whole thing is the ALX. And it’s essen- tially modular. So, what Natalie talked about is the fact that this tool on the end is called the Nicole Pro. You can have lots of different ones that clip in and clip out. And that’s the fun part because all these ideas come from people. But you were very humble about that point
30 ABILITY