|
|
|
|
  |
The Plain Dealer Bedford man harnesses pain power, invents sling
to support injured limbs If necessity is the mother of invention, pain can be a really close cousin. It's the kind of hurt known to anyone who's ever had to get around on crutches due to a foot or ankle injury. It's the moment when, suddenly off-balance, you reflexively slam down that wounded limb you've so carefully held off the ground, and get an excruciating reminder of why you're not supposed to put any weight on it. Six years ago, Robert Webb, 39, of Bedford, swung his crutches into a PetsMart store, sat down on the floor and started fitting dog harnesses to his ankle cast in a quest to improve upon the old grit-your-teeth-and-bear-it system of recovery mobility. He emerged with a little harness that he wrapped around his ankle cast and hooked, via bungee cord, to his belt. The elastic cord not only reduced the strain of holding up his broken ankle, but also allowed lightly touching the ground with his injured limb if he ever lost his balance. The Webb's Leg Sling was off and hobbling. An improved version - marketed by Webb's mother and stepfather through their kitchen-table corporation, LS Products LLC - is now being used by doctors at the Cleveland Clinic and South Pointe Hospital. The 8-ounce device suspends the injured extremity several inches above the ground with an adjustable strap buckled around the ankle and foot and connected to elastic bands on a padded shoulder harness. LS Products co-founders Wayne and Carol Urban hope that someday the leg sling will be as common as casts and crutches. And it all started on a winter day in 1997 when a chunk of frozen ground gave way beneath a ladder Webb was climbing to install seamless gutters on a house, dropping the ladder and future inventor to the ground. Webb wasn't content to sit for five weeks while his ankle mended. The former childhood builder of dirt bikes and go-carts from salvaged junk, who also studied design at the Cleveland Institute of Art, set to work. After some experimenting, he finally hit the harness/bungee combination, and was even able to go back to work while wearing the sling (something he doesn't recommend). Dr. Joel Novack, co-chief of podiatry at South Pointe Hospital, has already prescribed the sling for a handful of patients. "It'll work on just about any condition that I operate on, and it would also be good for strains and sprains in nonsurgical situations," he said. "From a medical point of view, it provides the kind of protection a patient needs, with a minimum of risk, and in a very simple way," Novack added. Dr. James Sferra, head of the Cleveland Clinic's foot and ankle surgery section, also has recommended the sling to patients. Don Schoenthal, 37, of Independence, used the sling for six weeks after breaking his leg, ankle and foot in a fall in January. He found the device was particularly helpful when going up or down stairs on crutches. "There were a couple times when I would've fallen otherwise," he said. "It's great being able to just barely touch down and get your balance back. Without it, you either slam your foot down and it hurts like heck, or [you] fall over." The Urbans plan to spend the coming year learning how to introduce their product to the Cleveland-area medical community, then expand those efforts nationally and internationally. Meanwhile, Webb and his stepfather are thinking of taking a look at remedying another crutch complaint—armpit ache. They've got some ideas along the lines of redistributing the load, possibly spring-loading the crutches..."It'll take a lot of footwork," Webb said. Someone had better alert PetsMart. © 2003 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission |
|
|
| © 2005, LS Products LLC. All Rights Reserved | |
