Ortho Board

An assistive device for people undergoing physical therapy

The project brief was to create a passion project, something that I’d been wanting to make in a field of design that I hadn’t done much work in before. The final brief evolved into the following: The product will be a means of practicing lower leg exercises involving the ankle, foot, and toes, at home. The ultimate goal is to reduce the cost of visits to the Physical Therapist’s office and help the user save money.

Research

Target Audience

Young adults who were former athletes in college

Many still have injuries that get in the way of the life they wish to live.
They have little to no health insurance.
Can’t afford to make regular visits to the physical therapist’s office.

Professional Opinion

I spoke to a couple of physical therapy students that actively work with athletes at my school to rehabilitate their injuries and help them get back on the field. Here’s what I learned:

Many different types of injuries, and a handful of different exercises to treat them all.
Exercises consist of simple movements of the foot that can be comfortably moved in.
Keep resistance weight light for at-home exercises without a doctor.
Most exercises can be done sitting down, a few should be done standing up.
Resistance bands are widely used for many exercises.

I set out to come up with different features that would correlate and help with these movements and made mind maps for movements of the foot sole, ankle, and toes.

Ideation Sketches

from right to left

Bar to attach resistance bands to exercise in any direction.
Roller ball to massage across the sole.
Treadmill for toes to exercise ligaments along the sole of the foot.

Board Shape

Board needs:

Removable and rearrangeable parts.
The whole board is used as a balance board.
Tile system to move around features.
Tiles can be removed to use the board as a balance board.

This is what the design has developed into.

Three tiles with features can be replaced with black ones for balance.
All other tiles have interactive textures.
All can be rearranged to the preference.
includes a tube to place under the board, extra flat tiles, and a set of two resistance bands.

CAD Iterations

First

Working model and product in use

After finalizing the product, I used a 3D printer, a CNC machine, and a couple of other methods to make a working model and work out the use of the board and test it out.

Toe Pull/Push

Slant Exercises

Pulling Upwards

Pulling Sideways

Pushing Down

360 Sole Massage

360 Joystick Pivot

Balancing

Final

The study model was essential in seeing how someone might actually use the board I designed and revealed another potential use for it. It can be used when sitting at a desk working and this could mean something else. A secondary use of my product could be as a fidget toy of sorts. Someone might have it under their desk while working and fidget using their feet/legs as many people already do, and keep their hands and mind busy with work up on the desk. But for the time being, I decided to focus on the PT use of it.