(crowd clapping)
3D printing is changing medicine
and for me, after dealing with arthritis, chronic foot pain
and failed foot surgeries way back in my 20's
I was referred to aesthetic foot surgeon Dr Ali Sadrieh
who suggested 3D printed orthotics
to improve, not only my gait, but also my chronic pain.
So I went to go see Dr Sadrieh who now joins us.
(crowd clapping)
tell us what this technology is and how it works.
How this works is there's three pieces of the puzzle,
one is the actual scanning 3D volume data
that we'll capture of your foot
and the high resolution image of the bottom of the foot.
The second is the actual gait plate which we'll walk you on,
it'll show what your foot's doing as you're walking
and then that data all goes into a software engine.
And then it comes up with an algorithm
it figures out with its intelligence,
what is your foot doing at different phases.
So instead of getting an old-school orthotic,
which is just a piece of plastic
made by the hands of a doctor with plaster,
this is actually calculating real time data
and then generating a device
that has a very unique structure.
So this is like a lattice structure
laid down by a 3D printer,
and that structure can have different densities
in different areas that makes it dynamic.
So it works very different than a traditional orthotic.
And if you all see my face and I look really excited,
it's because these are actually mine.
Yes, they are.
I went to see Dr. Sadrieh in his clinic
a number of weeks ago and it, of course,
took a little time to get these produced.
Can we show people the process of going through,
figuring out what works.
That would be great.
For instance, for me.
So what do I do first, here,
remind me how this works.
So let's get you scanned.
We'll take your shoes and socks off.
Sorry Docs, I did wash my feet this morning.
Ali, we've talked about this before,
that issues with your feet,
how you stand, how you walk,
not only affect your feet,
but all your other joints.
All of it.
All the way up to your back
and beyond.
And Drew that was my case,
is I was actually having work done on my spine
because of my cervical injuries.
Point blank, Travis, you're never gonna fix all this
til you fix what's going on with your feet.
And I think this is just an important take away
for all of us.
Over time if you have what we call an antalgic gait,
a painful gait over time,
it's going to mess up your knee, your hip, your spine.
We're going to fix that today.
We're going to fix that today.
Hopefully.
Let's roll those pants up.
I'm going to get you to the record mode here.
So left foot on the device first?
Yes sir.
The laser scanner is now going through
and scanning his foot and lower leg.
So this is Travis's 3D foot.
Now Travis, let's switch sides.
Let's put you on the right side.
Beautiful.
Keep in mind everyone, that old-school orthotics,
or even just regular orthotics,
they involve plaster, so it's a mess.
I mean I've been doing it for 18 years,
all this mess.
Or a foam box, which is a no-go
'cause you're capturing the deformity.
This is capturing his natural foot
and then the software calculates, based on his gait,
what his foot should be doing when he's walking.
Now we're gonna have you stand on this gait plate.
This thing has 40,000 sensors,
and basically what it does is it calculates pressure
throughout the plate.
We want you standing and getting a static image first.
So this is his baseline pressure analysis,
and what you can appreciate
is that he's kind of heel heavy
and definitely very heavy on the sides.
Red means more pressure.
Okay, so that's a static recording,
and now we're going to go to the cool stuff.
We're gonna have you walk across this.
You can start on any side.
Remember when you're tryin' to walk across this,
do it so that your gait, you have one foot in,
one foot in, and then you're out.
So capture both feet.
So get your stride ready and let's go.
Beautiful.
So now we've got the data, so come check this out.
You've seen this before,
but we'll take a look with your audience.
So what you're appreciating here
is a static image of Travis's feet,
and when we click play, we actually get to see him
walking across that plate
and where the pressures are going.
And you see the differences.
That white line that courses along the pink line
is actually your real-time center of gravity,
and notice that it varies through time.
And then the hot spots are the pressure points.
And we can see this data in a different form
in a 3D topographical version,
which again shows, as you walk,
what's happening with your foot
and where the pressures are focused on.
And the implications of this are huge.
Imagine people that have had trauma,
structural issues, arthritis,
diabetic patients
with pressure points in their feet.
