“Man, this knee has really made a difference – I have never seen such a big jump in technology.”
So says Dave Leeka, one of a growing number of RHEO KNEE® users who are experiencing the unique advantages that this intelligent structure has to offer. After losing his left leg 35 years ago in the Vietnam conflict, Dave started out with a wooden leg, belted on around the waist. Always keen to keep up with the latest prosthetic technologies, his personal mission is to walk as naturally as possible.
“I got my first RHEO in February 2005 and you know what, it was definitely worth the wait! It has made everything that I want to do, possible. I have never been near to walking as well as this before. When I have long pants on you can hardly tell. You just walk over it, relax and let it do the work, work that typically I used to have to put in. It changes speed very easily – my previous knee didn’t react quickly enough - but this one just stays with you when you speed up or slow down.”
In years gone by, the main problem Dave experienced was fatigue. According to him the RHEO KNEE® has turned that around quite dramatically. “The Rheo is simply the greatest thing I’ve seen in 35 years as an amputee. I have a lot of skin grafts on my residual limb and the femur bone is quite prominent, so I have had some troubles in the past. Now I can go a lot farther because walking doesn’t take so much out of me anymore.”