Have an increasing number of anomalies led to legitimate challenges of classically taught principles of podiatric biomechanics? Suggesting that flaws in long-held tenets in biomechanics and an overreliance on static perceptions of a normal foot and gait have led to confusion and misperceptions, this author says an improved paradigm that reflects an evolving understanding of pathomechanics may lead to more practical applications for patient care.

The Honda Walking Assist Device (HWAD) powered exoskeleton consists of a lumbar frame with motors on both sides to transfer force to the legs via thigh frames. This training device supports walking, based on the inverted pendulum model. Honda has been conducting research on the device since 1999. The company began lease sales in Japan in 2015 and received certification to begin marketing and selling the product in Europe in January 2018.

I have learned that traditional healthcare delivery models for managing chronic illness like diabetes are not at scale to handle situations like the global COVID-19 crisis. For instance, because of the drastic containment and mitigation measures, other parts of the healthcare system are leaving fragile patients including individuals with diabetes without necessary services. This is disrupting the best practices for preventing diabetes-related complications including diabetic foot syndrome (DFS), such as diabetic foot ulcer (DFU), infection, and gangrene.

There is an increasing demand to quantify the footprints, ecological, economic and social, in terms of the effect of different interventions in healthcare. The aim of this study was to compare two systems providing patients with diabetes with insoles in terms of their ecological, economic and social footprints. Prefabricated insoles (PRI) were compared with custom-made insoles (CMI). Using a welfare-economic monetary approach, costs were estimated for (1) treatment, (2) travelling to and from the hospital in terms of both fuel and time consumed by the patients and (3) society through emissions contributing to climate change.