ReMotion Knee: Scaling of an Affordable Prosthetic Knee for Developing Countries

Amputees living in developing countries have a profound need for affordable and reliable lower limb prosthetic devices. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are approximately 30 million amputees living in low-income countries, 85–95 % of whom lack access to prosthetic devices. Effective prosthetics can significantly change the lives of these amputees by increasing the opportunity for employment and providing improvements to long-term health and well-being. However, current solutions are inadequate: state-of-the-art devices are cost-prohibitive, while low-cost devices are often of poor quality and/or provide unreliable performance. The introduction of new devices is hampered by the lack of a cohesive prosthetics industry in low-income areas; the current network of low-cost prosthetic clinics is informal and loosely organized with significant disparities in geography, patient volume and demographics, device procurement, clinical and logistical infrastructure, and funding. D-Rev has designed the ReMotion Knee, an affordable polycentric prosthetic knee joint that performs on par with devices in high-income countries. As of October 2014, over 6200 amputees have been fitted with the JaipurKnee, the initial version of the ReMotion Knee, through a partnership with the Jaipur Foot Organization. D-Rev is currently scaling production of the ReMotion Knee using centralized manufacturing and distribution to serve existing clinics and increase the availability of devices for amputees without access to appropriate care. D-Rev aims to develop products that target these customers through economically sustainable models and provide measurable impact in the lives of the world’s amputees.