Researchers from the Texas Christian University (TCU) fashion merchandising and kinesiology departments are bringing their disciplines together to address the challenge of managing heat and perspiration for lower-limb prosthesis users. They are collaborating with Texas A&M University and a prosthetics liner company to study how materials affect heat and moisture transfer between the body and prostheses.
The researchers secured a $25,000 grant from Texas A&M and is submitting a $250,000 R21 grant request to the National Institutes of Health.
“This project is exciting because it brings together expertise that normally doesn’t exist within a single research team,” said Graci Finco, PhD, CPO, assistant professor of kinesiology at TCU. “By combining biomechanics, prosthetics, apparel design, thermoregulation, engineering and industry, we’re able to approach a long-standing clinical problem from multiple perspectives.”
Finco is the director of the Limb Loss and Difference Lab, which conducts research to increase prosthesis users’ access to healthcare, regain mobility, and improve their day-to-day lives.
“It’s a great example of how interdisciplinary partnerships can accelerate clinically meaningful innovation for people with limb loss and difference, particularly since we all focus on improving human potential from various perspectives,” Finco said.
Charles Freeman, PhD, fashion merchandising chair and the director of research and creative scholarship initiatives for the TCU College of Fine Arts, is providing the space and equipment to test and develop new materials through the new Athlete Engineering & Materials Design Lab.
Fashion merchandising launched the lab as a research and testing space focused on the products people depend on in extreme and demanding environments. The facility supports projects connected to athlete performance, rehabilitation, wearable health technologies, protective equipment and NASA-inspired soft goods research
“No single discipline can solve a challenge like this,” Freeman said. “Bringing together expertise in prosthetics, human performance, rehabilitation, textile engineering, and industry gives us an opportunity to design with the entire person in mind, not simply the product.”
This team is evaluating how different materials used in single-use prosthetic liners can affect heat and moisture accumulation during physical activity by integrating wearable monitoring devices, biomechanics, thermoregulation, and textile engineering.
“For people with limb loss and limb difference who use a prosthesis, over half report skin issues,” Finco said. “Our goal is to generate the evidence needed to design prosthetic interfaces that keep people healthier, more comfortable and ultimately more active.”
“A problem can persist for years even when much of the science needed to address it already exists. Sometimes what is missing is the right collaboration,” said Jim Weinstein, PhD, director of the Roach Institute of Athlete Engineering. “Charles and Graci bring complementary expertise to this challenge, with the person using the prosthesis as the center of gravity. As leaders, our job is to make those connections possible and support teams in turning what they know into solutions that improve people’s daily lives.”
Editor’s note: This story was adapted from materials provided by TCU.
