TEHRAN- Hadi Shabani lost his left leg in an accident ten years ago. After using foreign prosthetic knees for a while, he started thinking about producing a prosthetic knee that can be used not only for doing daily chores, such as walking, but can also be used for doing sports, IRNA reported on Tuesday. 

After his injury, Shabani first travelled to France and purchased a highly advanced and expensive prosthetic knee, but the prosthetic knee broke after a few months because he used to do cycling. 

The high cost of the foreign products and the sanctions that blocked Iranians from having access to it were reasons that motivated Shabani to produce an Iranian version. 

Now, he uses this Iran-made prosthetic knee for both running and cycling. 

The prosthetic knee which is still in pre-clinical stage was produced by researchers in “Technology Center for People with Different Lifestyles” in Iran University of Medical Science. 

The Technology Center for People with Different Lifestyles was established by Shabani in summer 2019 in the Incubation and Innovation Center of Iran University of Medical Science where they integrated five-years of research into a new project for producing prosthetic knees. 

The high cost of the foreign products and the sanctions that blocked Iranians from having access to them were reasons that motivated Shabani to produce an Iranian prosthetic knee. 
The prosthetic knee is the first output of this center.  

In his personal Website, Hadi Shabani says by “people with different lifestyle”, he means people who have to live with what society calls “a disability”. The center aims to produce new tools and equipment to help these people improve their lifestyle and face less limitations in their daily life. 

In his interview with IRNA, Shabani said that he hopes with receiving support from authorities, the new product can go into mass production. 

According to him, this prosthetic knee is suitable for people whose legs are amputated from above the knee. 

“The foreign versions of the prosthetic knee were too delicate, so if you used them for sports, they broke after a few months, but the Iranian version is suitable not only for walking and doing daily chores, but also for doing sports for long hours,” he said. 

“Doing sports and exercising is essential to the health of people with disability; moreover, it protects them from many social threats.” 

“The most important feature of this product is that it is way cheaper than the foreign versions as they cost about tens thousands of dollars, but we are trying to set the price of the Iranian prosthetic knee at around $500.” 

“If the product is mass produced, it can be exported as well. This way, the people with disability in neighboring countries can also benefit from using this prosthetic knee,” said Shabani. 

SJ/MG