28 October 2008

Walking aid offers new hope for children with brittle bones

Two engineering graduates from the University of Sheffield have designed a special walking frame for children with brittle bones, who are too small for normal walking aids. Barry Tan and Lim Ji Hui, designed the frame after meeting staff at Sheffield Children´s Hospital and hearing about the difficulties faced by children with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), also known as Brittle Bone Disease.

Barry and Lim, who graduated from the University this summer with a masters in engineering, carried out the design project during their final year of University. Even though they had coursework and exams to revise for they dedicated their spare time to working on the design. They also met with staff from Sheffield Children´s Hospital Metabolic Bone Disease Team to make sure their design was suitable for the children and met their needs.

Once the graduates had their final design they then worked with the University´s Department of Mechanical Engineering to find someone to manufacture the prototype. KingKraft Ltd, based in Sheffield, kindly stepped up to the challenge and agreed to manufacture a prototype of the walker for free.

Last week, after months of hard work, the prototype was presented to Sheffield Children´s Hospital. Lim joined Managing Director of KingKraft Ltd, Nigel Harrison, to present the aid to Liz Knowles, an Occupational Therapist at Sheffield Children´s Hospital. Four-year-old Maleah Pegg, from Beighton, Sheffield, who has Brittle Bone Disease, was also there to have a look at the walker.

Maleah fractures with little or no pressure and has deformities in all her long bones which severely affects her mobility. Although Maleah can now walk unaided the walker would have helped her when she was learning to walk.

Liz Knowles and her team are delighted with the walker and are now seeking funding so that they can have more of the frames manufactured.

Liz said: "We are extremely grateful to the students, Kingkraft Ltd and the University for all the hard work they have put into this project. The walker looks fantastic and for children with Brittle Bone Disease, like Maleah, a frame like this is desperately needed. Children with the disease are often of small stature and normal walking aids just aren´t suitable. This can be really frustrating for the children and their parents because when a child with Brittle Bone Disease is learning to walk they can´t progress as quickly as they would like to."

She added: "We are now looking for funding to see if we can make the students design into a reality. I would love to see children benefiting from the walker. "

Lim Ji Hui said: "One of my lecturers at the University, Elena Rodriquez-Falcon, first told me about the children with Brittle Bone Disease at Sheffield Children´s Hospital, who needed our help. She was already getting some students to design aids for the children as part on one of her modules in Mechanical Engineering but she couldn´t do every project. Barry and I decided we could take the walker project on in our spare time."

He added: "I really enjoyed working on the project and although it involved balancing lots of commitments it was well worth it. I just hope the hospital can get the funding they need to take our design forward."

Nigel Harrison, Director of KingKraft Ltd, said: "When I was approached by the University of Sheffield to become involved with the development of a prototype walker for use in Sheffield´s Children´s Hospital, I had no hesitation in accepting the challenge, as I was very impressed by the design. Everybody in the company got behind the project and I am really pleased with the results. As a Sheffield graduate it was also personally satisfying to be able to help the students at my old university turn their ideas into reality."

Abi Pegg, Maleah´s Mum, said: "Maleah is a very determined little girl and was constantly trying to walk at 22 months, but could not take more than three steps without falling. She was given a walker, which was too big for her, but was the smallest available. The walker did help her but it was still difficult for her as she would lean awkwardly on the walker to support her weight because it wasn't small enough.

"It is wonderful that the students have developed this new walker, the weight and steering capability is such an improvement on the walker Maleah had. I hope Sheffield Children´s Hospital gets the funding they need for the new walker because they do an excellent job and it will help children like Maleah get the independence they so desperately crave."