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In The News << BACK McKinney pushes advances for amputees' prostheticsBy KURT BEGALKA of The Business Journal - Business News for McHenry County, ILRon Santo stands just fine, thank you, perched atop technology. Santo, the nine-time All-Star turned broadcaster with the Cubs, lost his legs to diabetes - the right in 2001 and the left in 2002. But fortunately for Santo, he met Ray McKinney. 
"When I got up and walked, to me it was like my own leg," Santo said of his first prosthesis. "I forget I have it on at times - I really do. ... I can ride horses. I can play golf. I can walk without any aid at all."
McKinney, 56, of Gurnee developed the "electronic elevated vacuum" pump three years ago with the help of two Chicago area retired inventors - Maurice Danzig, an amputee and former chief research officer at General Electric, and David Bush, a micro-volt technology expert formerly with Motorola. "I think they realized this is going to change the life of amputees all over the world," McKinney said. "I'm very proud I had a piece in that." Vacuum pumps have been used off and on since 1992. At first they were hand powered, then mechanical pumps, then electric. "We're developing a motor that is two-thirds the size of my middle finger," McKinney said. The new system has many advantages over its predecessors. It accentuates healing, eliminates moisture, equalizes pressure and keeps the prosthesis firmly in place. "In the morning, the leg has swelled, but once you're up the leg is 7 [percent] to 8 percent smaller," said John McDonough, a Lake Forest resident and owner of McDonough Medical. "You're wallowing around in the socket. You can put socks on there to soak up perspiration and snug it up, but it still rubs and you get sores." McKinney said that is why 42 percent of first-time amputees shed their artificial limbs in the first 18 months. Another plus is its weight. The new mini-motor weighs just 23?4 ounces, McKinney said, compared with the 11?2-pound mechanical pumps of five years ago. "They require charging just once a month for an hour," McKinney said. "And they are very efficient." "I'm really not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of not living," he said. McDonough, 72, endured 10 surgeries in 35 days when his leg was amputated at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare. "All of a sudden, you are walking around with one pant leg flapping in the breeze," he said. "It's not easy to adjust to." But McKinney's team - including certified prosthetist Erin Strang and his son, Michael, a prosthetist-orthotist who recently graduated from Northwestern - eased the transition. McDonough was so impressed that he joined Santo in buying a share of the business. McDonough serves as business director and Santo heads public relations when they are not drumming up money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. 
McKinney, a certified prosthetist-orthotist (brace specialist) for 38 years, first became interested in the field 40 years ago while visiting Shriners Hospital in Chicago.
Technology has changed dramatically - from gluing together and shaping wood blocks to casting plaster molds of a stump, fabricating a clear plastic sockets using ovens and then creating limbs from titanium, carbon and polymers. "In the old days. it took two to three weeks to have a limb made," McKinney said. "Now it takes two to three hours." Dan Kubasiak, a 76-year-old amputee from Genoa, wrestles with the effects of a stroke along his right side. But he is able to walk with the help of his prosthetic leg. "Most people can't believe it," he said. "You come in one day and come back the next day, and you have the leg." A closer look at a prosthesis: What is a prosthesis? It is a device that replaces a missing body part with an artificial one. Prosthetists evaluate, design and fit prostheses to an individual's needs. What prosthetic devices are available and how does each of them work? Devices are available for the leg. The conventional prosthetic is made of foam and plastic and held on with pins and straps. Layers of socks are worn to help the prosthetic device fit the constantly fluctuating volume of the residual limb. The volume of the limb changes because the positive pressure of the prosthetic device "squeezes" the residual limb so it will effectively bear weight. McKinney Prosthetics uses a new vacuum technology to eliminate the slippage that can lead to blisters, sores and perspiration. What should those considering a prosthesis know? Set realistic goals and be ready to modify them as needed. For example, if they were golfing and bike riding before the amputation, it is a realistic goal to eventually return to these activities wearing a prosthesis. But it might take some time to adjust. How soon after surgery can you fit a patient for a prosthesis? Patients can be evaluated right after surgery and, depending on how the wound is healing, we can fit the patient with their prosthesis as soon as one week after the sutures are out. What can people do to ease the adjustment? The prosthesis obviously has a different feel than the bodily part that was removed so it takes some time to adjust. If a person has a high level of mobility or activity prior to amputation surgery it may improve a person's sense of balance, stability and weight shifting when using the new prosthesis. << BACK |