John Horne lost his right leg to bone cancer when he was a freshman in high school. This intensely personal experience spawned his career and passion for advocating for those with limb loss. The president of Independence Prosthetics-Orthotics on the University of Delaware's Science, Technology, and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus has seen prosthetics improve significantly since his limb loss and since he was an undergraduate student at UD, interning at Nemours Children's Health, where he poured prosthetic molds.

Now, Horne is part of pioneering research led by George W. Laird Professor of Mechanical Engineering Jill Higginson in the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Laboratory along with co-investigators Elisa Arch, associate professor of kinesiology and applied physiology, and Meg Sions, associate professor of physical therapy, in the College of Health Sciences. The study aims to test the potential of fabric-based sensors in monitoring load in individuals with limb loss, a development that could revolutionize the field of prosthetics and significantly improve the lives of those with limb loss.

"By monitoring limb loads in individuals with lower limb amputation, we can determine whether they're loading symmetrically or overloading over time to ensure they're using their limb optimally," Higginson said.

These innovative sensors were developed by Erik Thostenson, professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering; Sagar Doshi, an associate scientist in UD's Center for Composite Materials; and Higginson.

Horne first experienced force-sensing devices in an orthopedic boot for people with Achilles tendon rupture as part of a senior design project in Higginson's lab several years ago and identified an unmet need in the limb loss community.

"The difference between the socket and the foot in a prosthetic pylon is an area that functionally we haven't taken advantage of until now," Horne said.

Horne demonstrated that the ongoing study requires placing the small sensors in the pylon of his prosthetic. He then walked on a treadmill with force plates in the motion capture lab to gauge whether the treadmill data mirrored the sensor data.