Dear Surfer,
In 1994, by way of trial and error, we started looking for a solution to the matter of constructing above-knee sockets at Botta et fils. No CAD/CAM system designed for orthopaedic use was either suitable for the fabrication process or appropriate to the firm’s culture. Moreover, the technical problems encountered by the various representatives in many cases remained unsolved.
It was for this reason that in 1995 Botta purchased a numerically controlled milling machine and a 3D digitizer initially intended for mechanical use. The system made it possible to copy the existing sockets with the utmost precision and to save the relevant data.
Little by little, a socket bank was built up. In the early stages, when we had a new patient to fit with a prosthesis, we would look in our data bank for a socket having more or less the desired measurements. We would machine this socket and adjust it by hand. Very soon it proved necessary, in order to cope with the growing quantity of data, to develop retrieval mechanisms which would enable us to scan the entire bank and to mask sockets matching the target data. As a result, we had in our possess- ion a high-performance tool.
In 1998, we established S&S Sàrl to put into practical effect our “global concept”, to which we devoted a good deal of our nights.
In the course of 1999, a global data bank of sockets has been set on foot; every orthopaedic technician can interrogate it, thanks to the Socketfinder®software.
The development of the Socketfinder® concept is the fruit of daily work in the service of amputees.
Meanwhile, S&S has developed knees. After the KX05 which was used exclusively by Botta, the KX06 project was launched in 2004.
The completely new concept allows the use of SNS hydraulic units in polycentric knees. For its development, we acquired new software of engineering allowing complete modeling and the simulation of the constraints.
The first prototype was tested by patients of Botta & sons in May 2005 with much of success This new geometry has the effect of increasing the length of the lever on the unit compared to a monocentric system.
To walk downhill with a polycentric knee is not any more an Utopia with the KX06!
For our work related to knees, we got,in 2006, the Scientific Award of the APO which is the Swiss branch of the ISPO.
By 2008, the KX06 is part of the product line Endolite and is therefore marketed worldwide by distributors.
Yours sincerely,
Jean-Louis Steiner and Clément Schneider