1-year position Engineer in Mechanics and Biomechanics

Foot orthotics (commonly known as orthopaedic insoles) are commonly used to treat postural or painful conditions related or not to the patient's foot(s). These are essentially made from petrochemical materials with a stack of layers bonded together with glues. In a more ecological approach, it seems interesting to limit the use of these materials which, moreover, are deleterious to the health of the professionals who handle them. The objective of the mission (which involves the three ISM teams and the School of Rehabilitation Sciences of the Faculty of Medical and Paramedical Sciences of the University of Aix-Marseille) is to propose a more eco-responsible alternative to the materials currently used in pedicure-podology. The proposed materials will thus have to be in line with sustainable development by being either bio sourced or recyclable. To implement these new materials, it is envisaged to use 3D printing. Indeed, this fast-growing process offers many advantages such as: ease of manufacture, creation of structured geometries, easier customization and reworking of prostheses after manufacture. Once these new orthoses have been developed, they will have to be subjected to physio pathological and therefore clinical validation. We therefore propose to test them on patients suffering from plantar fasciitis.

The objective of the mission is to characterize the mechanical behavior of a plantar orthosis and to reproduce an equivalent behavior using eco-friendly materials. To do this, the trainee will follow the following steps:

• State of the art of plantar fasciitis treatment device
• Research into new eco-responsible materials for the production of plantar orthoses
• Mechanical characterization of these new materials (bibliography or mechanical tests)
• Mapping of local stiffnesses of a currently used orthopaedic device
• Finite element calculation and topological optimization to develop a prosthesis geometry that can be produced in 3D printing and reproduces the local stiffness of the current orthosis.
• Manufacturing and validation of the orthosis

Funding: Carnot grant (Aix-Marseille Université) – Podomat Project