Orthopedic Walking Boot
Aircast pioneered the use of graduated pneumatic compression as a way to more comfortably immobilize a patient’s foot inside a walking brace. After years of selling the same product into an increasingly crowded category, Aircast recognized a critical need to refresh their primary offering, and asked Farm to create a new signature product.
Our team focused on reducing part cost and weight while increasing comfort and incorporating new features, including a pneumatic pump, better ventilation, and internal geometry derived from the anatomy of the foot. Working closely with Aircast’s injection molder and using Finite Element Analysis techniques, Farm engineered highly optimized parts that were 18% lighter than those in the previous product.
At the same time, we succeeded in making the parts stronger while increasing their flexibility and achieving greater part reliability over 90,000 cycles of impact. We incorporated an ergonomic rocker sole made of lightweight composite material that offers enhanced comfort and protection while promoting more natural ambulation, and we made the foot base larger to offer ample room for dressings without sacrificing comfort. Finally, we integrated into the brace a user-adjustable air pump that allows the patient to maintain just the right amount of compressive support throughout the healing process, while maintaining comfort and stability.
Farm succeeded in significantly reducing the weight of the new cast, improved its ergonomics and performance, gave it a bold new aesthetic, and made it more cost-effective to manufacture.
The result? The launch of the new XP Walking Brace gave Aircast a 30% increase in market share.