Every once in a while I am asked by a patient to provide them with a prosthetic foot that adjusts in heel height. I am actually surprised that I am not asked more often due to the advancements in this area. I am familiar with three of the newer feet that are available. 1. Accent from College Park 2. Elation from Ossur 3. Runway from Freedom Innovations. They have come a long way from the original Safe Adjustable heel Foot from over a decade ago.
I actually had the opportunity today to fit all three to a female 30 year old patient. She provided some great insight and evaluation to all three. She had actually been wearing the Runway for the past 2 years and has done very well but wanted to try a foot that had more locking positions. Both the Elation and the Accent have that ability. They all range from 0"-2 1/2" heel height. The Elation and Accent are both very easy to adjust compared to the Runway. However, out of all three, she stated that the Runway walked the smoothest, where the Elation foot had a dead spot at midstance, and the Accent foot fell right in between. The key to her final decision was the cosmetics. This was a no brainer for her. She immediately selected the Accent from College Park due to the sleek and low profile finish.
I find it very interesting that she chose cosmetics over the smoothness of the Runway foot. However, she did say, for her this is a fair trade. Better cosmetics for a less smooth foot. She also added that the fact that the Accent had multiple locking positions was also a winning point. She stated that she had trouble dialing in the Runway foots heel height to various pairs of shoes.
I would be interested to hear from you all your opinions on this matter.