MAE SOT, Thailand -- More Burmese landmine accident survivors will have access to stronger and lighter below-the-knee prostheses thanks to the introduction of two new technologies by Clear Path International and its partner Prosthetics Research Study of Seattle.

With the generous support of Rotary, CPI and PRS are bringing thermoplastics production and improved measurement technology to the Mae Tao Clinic for Karen refugees on the border between Thailand and Burma.

Bioengineer Brian Hafner and prosthetist/orthotist Kate Allyn from PRS conducted a two-week training session for 15 technicians from four prosthetics fabrication shops along the border, two on the Thai side and two just inside Burma.

The shops currently make artificial limbs using the more traditional lamination technique, a toxic and time-consuming process that makes for a somewhat heavy prosthesis with various components. Thermoplastics production is a faster odorless process using softened plastic molded around the positive cast of the amputee’s leg and finished with only three basic parts. The thermoplastics leg known as the Monolimb is lighter and generally more durable. At about $35 per leg, the Monolimb’s raw materials are half the cost of those used in lamination.

In conjunction with thermoplastics production, Hafner and Allyn also introduced the technicians to the Transtibial Alignment System (TTAS), a PRS invention completed with support from CPI.

TTAS is designed to allow traveling technicians or medics to take amputees’ residual limb measurements in remote settings and recreate the same alignment in the fabrication shop so the patient doesn’t have to come in to be fitted. The TTAS will allow Burmese amputees who can’t make it out of Burma to still get artificial legs.

Hafner and Allyn will return to the Mae Tao Clinic for additional training and troubleshooting this spring. CPI’s goal is to experiment with the introduction of the new technology and all its corresponding equipment at the Mae Tao Clinic, then eventually support its use at the other fabrication shops in Kho Key, Pa An and north of Chiang Dao.

The Rotary clubs of Bainbridge Island and Mae Sot were instrumental in facilitating the project at the clinic and securing funding for it from the Rotary Foundation and their respective Rotary districts.