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- How are you folks, welcome back.
I'm Garrett, and this is You Got This!
Today we are going to talk
about two types of suspension systems.
I would focus on one, but example wise,
my new leg has two systems in it.
So we're gonna just talk about both together.
So the first and simplest is the Pin system.
Pins are great in terms of ease of connection
and you know they work,
you can hear them click in.
They're just simple.
So without this part,
basically,
these rubber rings kind of help maybe give some seal,
but nominal at best.
without that,
this is basically just a pin system.
And so
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so it's on
and you probably can't hear,
but it doesn't, it has some give,
you can see,
hopefully
I can take this and pull
and when you're walking,
that's kind of crummy.
So it's easy to get it on and off,
but it's a little sloppy in the grand scheme of things.
However, when you add a vacuum system
and a pin system,
and this is apparently a fairly new development,
I mean maybe not like new, new,
but last couple of years new.
Now I can have a system
that has both vacuums
so I get an airtight seal
and it pumps air out with every step
and I have a pin.
So originally when I came home with a system,
my prosthetist, they don't keep these around
they didn't have them in
and
FedEx or somebody who,
the shipment got messed up,
so they didn't show up.
So they sent me home with one of these,
which is a similar deal.
It's a vacuum system seal,
and it's got these fins.
And so it gives you a seal down in your socket,
but there's no pin.
And because my leg is short, my limb,
depending on how I'm sitting or standing
or moving or going upstairs,
that seal, there's just not a lot of space down here,
even though it kind of looks like there is,
there's really not
Cause the seal starts right about here
where that cap space is.
The seal breaks all the time for me.
And so without the pin,
my leg will come off
and with this one it did.
I was just walking
I lifted my leg up to step over something
and my leg just came out
and I knew I couldn't put it out in front of me
so I just kind of tucked it,
it felt, and it hurt.
But with the pin
I know that's not gonna happen
because the pin it's it's in there,
it's good it's sealed.
So it kind of gives me that redundancy.
I have the reliability of the pin
and the security and the fit
and the kind of tight connection
of a vacuum system.
Now that's said
there's a lot of moving parts, right?
So depending on what you're doing.
I was originally turned off on these ideas
because this snags on something, right?
You're, you're out of luck.
If the pump breaks,
you're out of luck.
If the valve system up here,
something happens to it,
you're out of luck.
There's a lot of ways a vacuum system can fail.
That said, the security is awesome.
This is the most secure I've ever felt in a socket
and it really, really, really,
really makes a big difference.
And if I want to,
I can always add an old sleeve over the top
and get an even better seal for activities.
So, that's nice.
That said, let it be downside.
I change feet a lot,
depending on what activities I'm doing.
The most common foot that I switched to
for snowboarding and mountain biking
is my versa foot.
And because the pump is built into my primary foot,
if I take this foot off,
my socket no longer has a pump.
So I bought a pump off eBay.
My prosthetist tells me, put it on
we checked it and everything.
And so now, for me to switch feet,
I also have to disconnect,
this pump and connect it to this
and the pump is built in to the leg now.
So from the standpoint point of swapping feet a lot,
having a vacuum system complicates things,
that said, I really, truly
have never felt this secure in my socket ever.
And when I had an extra old sleeve over this,
I feel like it's not going anywhere.
And it really,
it stinks to add the sleeve
and add the extra bulk and weight,
but the security,
knowing your legs is gonna stay on and be there
and not shifted at all is amazing.
So anyways, that's kind of a quick overview
of both the pin and vacuum system.
I like it.
I've been really happy with it
in the coming weeks we will talk more
about traditional suction systems
and some of the other options out there
and the pros and cons
and how you can make them work better for you.
Anyways, that's it for this week.
I'm Garrett.
And You Got This.
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