The Niagara Foot
A Canadian Solution for Victims of Land Mines

Land mines have killed or injured over one million people since 1975. There are approximately 26,000 new victims every year. Many of these are children hurt while playing, or farmers injured while working in the fields.

The world is responding to this issue. There are at least fifty agencies worldwide that provide relief, rehabilitation, education and aid in demining efforts. Many of these are Canadian. What has been lacking has been a prosthetic foot designed to adequately meet the needs of land mine victims. That is, until now.

The Niagara Foot (patented 2000), designed by Robert Gabourie of Niagara Prosthetics & Orthotics and a team of engineers from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and the Dupont Co. (USA), may soon be the foot of choice around the world.

“Niagara Prosthetics & Orthotics wanted to provide a prosthetic foot that was simple to use, durable, functional and affordable while at the same time providing high tech, high-end performance. There are many excellent prosthetic feet available today, but all are too expensive for use in war-torn countries. Developing an energy storing and returning foot that is low cost was their challenge.”

While the design appears simple (a piece of Delrin® plastic, shaped somewhat to resemble a human foot), it represents countless hours of mathematical calculations, computer simulations and testing. Every square millimeter and curve is important to how the foot functions.

Field trials of the Niagara Foot started in November, 2001. Gabourie and representatives from the Canadian Centre for Mine Action Technologies and Queen’s University visited the Thailand Mine Action Centre. Land mine victim volunteers were fit with the Niagara Foot at Aranya Prathet Hospital on the Thailand/Cambodia border. Initial feedback on the performance of the foot has been positive and a year long evaluation continues.

The results have encouraged those involved to keep investing in the foot and to develop it into a final product. The team hopes the foot will soon be available to amputees in developing countries worldwide.

New research into a modular socket system and stabilized knee has begun.