Hey everyone,
I just found this site, and it looks like a great source of info. I've been lucky enough to know a thirteen year old boy with a congenital shortened femur. He had a symes amputation at a young age, and has used an extra long below knee conventional prosthetic since then. He is a very active boy. He plays basketball and ran track last year.
I'm posting because myself, four other Purdue engineering students, and a prosthetist from Indianapolis designed and built a new prosthetic device for him last year. It is described at our wiki page located here:
https://globalhub.org/groups/2009mesd/wiki/MainPage
It essentially corrects his anatomy by extending his affected leg by 4" to match his sound leg. The biggest difference is that he can ride a bike for the first time. It's not a completed design yet, he's already worn out part of the leg. We're currently working on refining the pivots to be more durable, but the concept shows promise.
I'd be happy to provide information to anyone who wants it. I'm not sure how easy it would be to get one of these made for someone else yet, as it's a very custom device. I just wanted to get the info out there.
Thanks!
Brian