Endolite's Linx smart prosthetic limb wins prestigious medtech award

Endolite’s Linx integrated, microprocessor-controlled prosthetic limb was recently named winner of the 2017 Medical Design Excellence Awards.

At the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, Endolite was selected from 45 finalists in nine medical technology product categories by a panel of leading clinicians, engineers and designers. Each product was judged based on design, engineering and functional innovation, benefits to overall health care, and patients and market differentiation.

The Linx’s four microprocessors and seven situational awareness senses on the knee and ankle constantly collect data on the user, activity and terrain to adjust for resistance and speed. The ankle communicates with the knee at a rate of 400 messages per second, and the Linx adjusts over 2,000 times in one day to adapt to its environment.

This is the only lower extremity prosthetic device that enables the knee and foot to communicate with each other in both directions. That allows the patient to have a more normalized gait when walking on any type of terrain.

Back pain is usually an issue with amputees because of overcompensation, but the Linx’s self-alignment capability reduces the movement that contributes to that problem. To reduce strain, the standing and flexicon locks stabilize the ankle and knee joints, whether on flat ground or an incline.

The Linx is equipped with four central processing units, is capable of Bluetooth connection and runs on a lithium-ion battery, which gives three to four days of activity on a single charge.

Endolite describes the success of the Linx in the U.S. market as “phenomenal” with over 70 percent of the units built and sold in the country. Winning the Medical Design Excellence Award will help the Linx gain even more recognition in the U.S.

Going forward, Endolite plans to increase the awareness of the Linx by continuing to provide education to physicians who care for prosthetic patients.