KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
Imagine not knowing if you'd ever enjoy a walk in a park or being able to mow your lawn again. One Kansas City man is using the newest technology in prosthetics to hopefully allow him to be able to do those types of tasks once again.
"The hydraulics and microprocessors move the ankles according to the floor when you're walking. I can actually kind of feel the floor through the prosthetics, through the stumps. It's amazing. It's hard to explain, but it just makes walking easier," Ed Spangler said.
Spangler is back on his feet, or his new feet, as he calls them.
"It amazes me how much better it is. I'm thankful every day I got these things," he said.
The new prosthetic feet use microprocessors and hydraulics to accurately mimic the movement of a human foot. The foot actually bends so it contours to the floor.
"It's kind of like the difference between daylight and dark. It's the closest thing to having feet without having feet," Spangler said.
Spangler's feet and ankles were crushed seven years ago. He was working at a steel supply company and unloading 20,000 pounds of steel when it fell and pinned him down for about 35 minutes. After 10 weeks and open-heart surgery following a heart attack in the hospital, he wasn't sure he'd walk again.
"I thought I was going to be in a wheelchair the rest of my life," he said.
He relearned to walk on steel prosthetics six months after his accident, but his prosthetist John Camey said the new feet have made a world of difference.
"They're going to know if he's walking fast or slow uphill or downhill. They're going to adjust to what he's doing," Camey said.
Spangler showed KCTV5's Justin Schmidt how walking on a hill, which was impossible before, is now as easy as putting one foot in front of the other.
"Before, it was a struggle to walk across the yard because of the uneven surface," Spangler said. "With this, my feet and ankles can move."
"We are not prepared to call these bionic feet, although he probably feels like the bionic man when he's wearing them," Camey said of Spangler.
Now, as long as he remembers to plug in his feet to recharge their battery overnight, Spangler's good to go.
The prosthetic feet cost between $15,000 and $20,000, but are covered by most insurance plans and Medicare.
Copyright 2012 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved.
The Élan foot by Endolite
