Development of an immediate, post-surgery, upper-limb prosthesis: Wound soft, self-fittable and enabling critical rehabilitation and physiotherapy to start earlier for better healthcare outcomes.

COVID-19进一步加剧了NHS假肢服务面临的挑战。在行动受限和保持社交距离的时期，传统的假肢往往是不可用的，或者充其量是有限的，依赖于专门的住院预约、临床医生和定制的装配预约。这意味着截肢者错过了关键的早期获得假肢的机会，他们已经不得不等待6个多月才能首次获得假肢，而COVID可能会进一步增加这一数字。Koalaa旨在通过开发世界上第一个术后假体来解决这些挑战，这是一种柔软、灵活的设备，可以在家中安装，也可以在手术后24小时内通过远程医疗安装。基于我们的专利“软套”设计，一系列可互换的工具，并与关键的NHS，患者和康复利益相关者合作，这一革命性的设备将使假体的使用和康复比目前可能提前6个月开始。此外，灵活、标准的设计意味着它可以很容易地适应各种残肢，就像袜子一样——提供离散尺寸，灵活地适应用户的肢体，而无需干预。这种方法完全消除了目前义肢安装服务的密集、昂贵的动手性质，这种性质导致截肢者面临相当大的COVID风险。拟议的技术和设计构成了我们产品组合的一部分，旨在解决当前假肢的高成本、高弃用率和舒适性差的问题，同时帮助解决与covid相关的关键挑战。这项技术的好处是可观的和立竿见影的。

COVID-19 has further compounded the challenges faced by the NHS prosthetic service. At a time of movement restrictions and social distancing, traditional prosthesis is often unavailable or at best limited, reliant on a dedicated in-hospital appointment, Clinician and bespoke fitting appointment. This means amputees are missing out on critical early access to prosthesis, already having to wait over 6 months for first access - with COVID likely to increase this even further.Koalaa aim to address these challenges with the development of the world's first post-surgery prosthesis - a soft, flexible device that can be fitted at home or via telemedicine within 24 hours of an operation.Based upon our patented 'soft-socket' design, range of interchangeable tools and working with key NHS, patient and rehabilitation stakeholders, the revolutionary device will enable prosthesis use and rehabilitation to begin 6 months earlier than currently possible.Furthermore, the flexible, standard design means it can be easily fitted to a wide range of residual limbs in a similar way to a sock - provided in discrete sizes and flexibly fit to the user's limb without intervention. This approach completely removes the intensive, expensive hands-on nature of the prosthesis fitting service currently that results in amputees put at considerable COVID risk attending appointment.The proposed technology and design forms part of our portfolio of products aimed at addressing the high cost, high abandonment rate and poor comfort of current prosthesis, whilst helping address a key COVID-related challenge. The benefits of the technology are considerable and immediate.