Mobility Designed M+D Crutch Places Body Weight On Elbows to Ease Hand and Wrist Pain

“The status quo is not good enough,” say the co-founders of Mobility Designed, husband and wife team Max and Liliana Younger and Michael Litscher. Together, they have come up with a better design for the standard crutch to escape the status quo of a crutch design that has been in use since the Civil War.

The standard, underarm crutch design depends on the armpit, hands and wrists to support the user’s body weight. This design, Max Younger points out, has been in use since the 1800s. It contributes to pain and strain in those three areas, especially in patients who use crutches long term.

The Youngers set out to create a pain-free alternative for Max’s father, Dan, who is an above the knee amputee, and uses crutches every day. They created the M+D Crutch, which is structured so that the pressure of daily use falls on the elbow rather than the armpit, hands and wrists.

Currently, the Mobility Designed team is seeking funding through a Kickstarter campaign that will run through Dec. 21. Liliana Younger, who serves as CEO of the Kansas City, Mo.-based company, sat down with Orthopedic Design & Technology to discuss the development and future of the M+D Crutch.

Arrowsmith: How did you come up with the design and concept of this crutch?

Younger: Max’s father is an above the knee amputee, and we’ve seen him on crutches for years. Even before he lost his leg he used crutches on and off for multiple knee surgeries so Max grew up around crutches. He knew it was something he wanted to redesign, he could see there were inherent flaws in this age old design and knew it wasn’t about adding padding, or making a slightly more ergonomic handle, it required to completely rethink the way we could support the user’s weight and remove soft tissue injuries from the equation.

As industrial designers we are trained to find a problem, research, ideate and figure out solutions by re-imagining new ways of doing things, not just redressing, or improving materials, that also part of it, but sometimes it requires to reevaluate the default notions. Why armpits? Why place all the burden on hands and wrists? Is there a more resilient part of the body that can support our weight when the legs are not an option?

So through that process it seemed logical to think about the elbow as the solution. After that “aha” moment, years ago, we have developed multiple versions, and hundreds of prototypes, addressing each component and thinking about all aspects of the user experience.

Arrowsmith: What are the long term implications of placing the pressure on the elbow instead of the armpit? Do you have a medical expert on your design team (physician or similar?)

Younger: We have tirelessly researched potential outcomes of placing pressure on the elbow and conducted a number of focus groups with physical therapists, occupational therapists, and an orthopedic surgeon to ensure that the way we are supporting the elbow won’t cause any issues in the long term.

Arrowsmith: What are your short and long term goals for the crutch, and for the company?

Younger: Our short term goal is to finalize tooling and have a first production run to fulfill our Kickstarter backers’ rewards and donations to our partner organizations. That first run will also give us a number of sets to distribute among hospitals and clinics to further test with users and study the adoption rate of our device.

In the longer term we plan to develop other mobility aids, for which we already have some exciting concepts, like walkers, wheelchairs and prosthetic legs. We believe the mobility aid space is filled with design opportunities that a team like ours could really have fun with!

Arrowsmith: How are you manufacturing the crutch? What were the concerns and ideas you had surrounding materials?

Younger: We’re working with local and U.S. manufacturing sources for all of our components, and looking to assemble the end product in Kansas City.

We are manufacturing the crutch both using injection molding and extrusion tooling. Our main goal is to make the main body very strong, and as lightweight as possible, while still performing to our specified needs. The material we’ve chosen is glass filled nylon, which is both extremely strong and light, with a resin-rich surface that has the aesthetic qualities we desired. We consulted with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) to get us started off on the right foot for the sustainability of our product. With that in mind we elected to use nylon as a versatile and highly recyclable thermoplastic and chose to go with both white and black as our colors, enhancing recyclability of the material. For parts with over-molding of different materials we’ve engineered them to mechanical interlock, to aid in disassembly. Our aluminum extrusion shapes and materials are engineered to lighten weight where possible without compromising needed strength in critical areas.