TED2014
David Sengeh: The sore problem of prosthetic limbs
Filmed:
Readability: 5.3
826,892 views
What drove David Sengeh to create a more comfortable prosthetic limb? He grew up in Sierra Leone, and too many of the people he loves are missing limbs after the brutal civil war there. When he noticed that people who had prosthetics weren’t actually wearing them, the TED Fellow set out to discover why — and to solve the problem with his team from the MIT Media Lab.
David Sengeh - Biomechatronics engineer
Even the most advanced prosthetic isn't useful if it's hard to wear. This observation guides TED Fellow David Sengeh's work at the Biomechatronics group in the MIT Media Lab. Full bio
Even the most advanced prosthetic isn't useful if it's hard to wear. This observation guides TED Fellow David Sengeh's work at the Biomechatronics group in the MIT Media Lab. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I was born and raised in Sierra Leone,
0
920
4206
00:17
a small and very beautiful country
1
5126
2245
00:19
in West Africa,
2
7371
1705
00:21
a country rich both in physical resources
3
9076
2904
00:23
and creative talent.
4
11980
2332
00:26
However, Sierra Leone is infamous
5
14312
1962
00:28
for a decade-long rebel war in the '90s
6
16274
2414
00:30
when entire villages were burnt down.
7
18688
3090
00:33
An estimated 8,000 men, women and children
8
21778
4212
00:37
had their arms and legs amputated during this time.
9
25990
4266
00:42
As my family and I ran for safety
10
30256
2984
00:45
when I was about 12 from one of those attacks,
11
33240
2692
00:47
I resolved that I would do everything I could
12
35932
3432
00:51
to ensure that my own children
13
39364
2280
00:53
would not go through the
same experiences we had.
same experiences we had.
14
41644
3386
00:57
They would, in fact, be part of a Sierra Leone
15
45030
2614
00:59
where war and amputation
16
47644
2488
01:02
were no longer a strategy for gaining power.
17
50132
4706
01:06
As I watched people who I knew, loved ones,
18
54838
3733
01:10
recover from this devastation,
19
58571
1891
01:12
one thing that deeply troubled me
20
60462
2664
01:15
was that many of the amputees in the country
21
63126
2504
01:17
would not use their prostheses.
22
65630
2056
01:19
The reason, I would come to find out,
23
67686
1956
01:21
was that their prosthetic sockets
24
69642
2335
01:23
were painful because they did not fit well.
25
71977
5460
01:29
The prosthetic socket is the part
26
77437
2186
01:31
in which the amputee inserts their residual limb,
27
79623
3396
01:35
and which connects to the prosthetic ankle.
28
83019
2280
01:37
Even in the developed world,
29
85299
1738
01:39
it takes a period of three weeks to often years
30
87037
3492
01:42
for a patient to get a comfortable socket, if ever.
31
90529
4262
01:46
Prosthetists still use conventional processes
32
94791
2882
01:49
like molding and casting
33
97673
2356
01:52
to create single-material prosthetic sockets.
34
100029
3718
01:55
Such sockets often leave intolerable amounts
35
103747
2788
01:58
of pressure on the limbs of the patient,
36
106535
2828
02:01
leaving them with pressure sores and blisters.
37
109363
4300
02:05
It does not matter
38
113663
2112
02:07
how powerful your prosthetic ankle is.
39
115775
3222
02:10
If your prosthetic socket is uncomfortable,
40
118997
2696
02:13
you will not use your leg,
41
121693
1572
02:15
and that is just simply unacceptable in our age.
42
123265
3880
02:19
So one day, when I met professor Hugh Herr
43
127145
2420
02:21
about two and a half years ago,
44
129565
1525
02:23
and he asked me if I knew
how to solve this problem,
how to solve this problem,
45
131090
2487
02:25
I said, "No, not yet,
46
133577
2100
02:27
but I would love to figure it out."
47
135677
2610
02:30
And so, for my Ph.D. at the MIT Media Lab,
48
138287
3290
02:33
I designed custom prosthetic sockets
49
141577
2893
02:36
quickly and cheaply
50
144470
2907
02:39
that are more comfortable
51
147377
1855
02:41
than conventional prostheses.
52
149232
2997
02:44
I used magnetic resonance imaging
53
152229
2242
02:46
to capture the actual shape of the patient's anatomy,
54
154471
3889
02:50
then use finite element modeling to better predict
55
158360
3104
02:53
the internal stresses and strains
56
161464
1943
02:55
on the normal forces,
57
163407
1998
02:57
and then create a prosthetic socket for manufacture.
58
165405
4613
03:02
We use a 3D printer to create
59
170018
3414
03:05
a multi-material prosthetic socket
60
173432
3816
03:09
which relieves pressure where needed
61
177248
2466
03:11
on the anatomy of the patient.
62
179714
3532
03:15
In short, we're using data
63
183246
2931
03:18
to make novel sockets quickly and cheaply.
64
186177
3799
03:21
In a recent trial we just wrapped up
65
189976
1796
03:23
at the Media Lab,
66
191772
1762
03:25
one of our patients, a U.S. veteran
67
193534
2510
03:28
who has been an amputee for about 20 years
68
196044
2926
03:30
and worn dozens of legs,
69
198970
3082
03:34
said of one of our printed parts,
70
202052
4088
03:38
"It's so soft, it's like walking on pillows,
71
206140
3404
03:41
and it's effing sexy."
72
209544
2936
03:44
(Laughter)
73
212480
3718
03:48
Disability in our age
74
216198
3276
03:51
should not prevent anyone
75
219474
1633
03:53
from living meaningful lives.
76
221107
2863
03:55
My hope and desire is that the tools and processes
77
223970
3343
03:59
we develop in our research group
78
227313
1998
04:01
can be used to bring highly functional prostheses
79
229311
2938
04:04
to those who need them.
80
232249
2291
04:06
For me, a place to begin healing the souls
81
234540
5451
04:11
of those affected by war and disease
82
239991
3889
04:15
is by creating comfortable and affordable interfaces
83
243880
3749
04:19
for their bodies.
84
247629
1956
04:21
Whether it's in Sierra Leone or in Boston,
85
249585
3228
04:24
I hope this not only restores
86
252813
3606
04:28
but indeed transforms their
sense of human potential.
sense of human potential.
87
256419
3261
04:31
Thank you very much.
88
259680
2911
04:34
(Applause)
89
262591
3949
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David Sengeh - Biomechatronics engineerEven the most advanced prosthetic isn't useful if it's hard to wear. This observation guides TED Fellow David Sengeh's work at the Biomechatronics group in the MIT Media Lab.
Why you should listen
David Sengeh was born and raised in Sierra Leone, where more than 8,000 men, women and children had limbs amputated during a brutal civil war. He noticed that many people there opted not to wear a prosthesis because proper fit is such an issue.
Sengeh has pioneered a new system for creating prosthetic sockets, which fit a prothesis onto a patient's residual limb. Using MRI to map the shape, computer-assisted design to predict internal strains and 3D printing to allow for different materials to be used in different places, Sengeh is creating sockets that are far more comfortable than traditional models. These sockets can be produced cheaply and quickly, making them far more likely to help amputees across the globe.
Sengeh was named one of Forbes' 30 under 30 in Technology in 2014, and in April 2014, Sengeh won the $15,000 "Cure it!" Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize.
David Sengeh | Speaker | TED.com