KINEG

Today there is a need to integrate new technologies with the interdisciplinary knowledge of industrial design in the creation of products that benefit the work of physiotherapists and specialists, who provide a direct service to the community. This work tackles the research and development of a system that integrates industrial design, mechanics and engineering with the aim of creating a rehabilitation support device in after-surgery treatments for knee ligament breaks.

KINEG is a portable system that allows the flexo-extension movement of the knee to be made. It controls the progressive increase in the angles of movement to which the patient is submitted and it improves the angular measurement process. During therapy, the user finds themselves in a supine position in which they let their leg rest on an articulate arm without placing any resistance on the mechanism. This arm slides linearly and the whole piece makes a fluid movement that simulates the movement of a leg bending.

The system manages to integrate functional, ergonomic, productive, economic and formal factors to establish a new concept of device that meets the needs of rehabilitating the knee in a controlled way, favouring the therapy and making it easier both for the patient and for the specialist. The development of the system poses functional, formal, usage and technical/productive design requirements with which a final proposal is constructed.