Take a few seconds and think about all of the things you do with your arms in a day, or an hour, or a minute. You open a door, hug someone, comb your hair, pick yourself out of bed, type into a keyboard, and so on. Did you know that there are over 50,000 children in the U.S. and more than 500,000 children around the world who have rare diseases and conditions that prevent them from using their arms? One of the groups doing their best to help those kids is an awesome Minnesota-based non-profit called Magic Arms. Their goal is to help as many children who can’t use their arms by raising money via their newly launched Indiegogo campaign.
In 2012, Whitney Sample and Tariq Rahman, met three-year-old Emma Lavelle, born with a condition called arthrogryposis multiplex congenital (AMC), which caused Emma to have limited joint mobility and underdeveloped muscles. Whitney and Tariq had already co-invented a exoskeleton called WREX at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Delaware, but then began prototyping a 3D printed exoskeleton in a collaboration with Stratasys. The results were phenomenal. The exoskeleton empowered children with conditions like Brachial Plexus Injury (BPI), AMC, and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) to be able to move their arms again!
“This is one of those industries that matches perfectly with 3D printing, because we need custom everything,” said Whitney. A 3D printed frame and resistance bands support and balance the child’s arms, while precision bearings in every joint allow the children to amplify what little arm strength they have. It supports and balances the weight of a child’s arms using a 3D printed frame and resistance bands. Precision bearings in all joints of the device allow children to amplify their limited arm strength.
Through a web-based fundraising campaign on Indiegogo, Magic Arms hopes to raise money to ensure that possibility for other children, including more than 200 currently on their waiting list and countless others across the world.
Since 2012, when Stratasys began working this dynamic duo, more than 100 children have been fitted with these 3D printed arm orthotics. Part of the reason Magic Arms was formed was to optimize the technology and train hospitals around the world to identify children who would be a good fit for the Magic Arms orthotic and help medical professionals understand how to properly fit it to children. This goal will begin with 5 hospitals in the US. “Every kid deserves to be able to hug their mom and dad,” said Angie Zavoral Conley, who is Magic Arms’ executive director. “Our Indiegogo campaign is an important step on that path.”
They’re only 4 days into their Indiegogo campaign, so there’s still plenty of time for them to reach their $150,000 goal. I hope they make it because this is one of the best applications of 3D printing that I’ve ever seen.
