Jaipur Foot

Jaipur is a well-known name in the world of handicraft and architecture. Besides this Jaipur has given a marvelous gift to the amputee person in form of Jaipur foot and thus paved its strong foot in the medical field also. This foot has bought a new hope and dreams in the desolate world of amputees. Earlier it was customary to fit an artificial limb -prostheses to a lower limb amputee which was known as 'SACH' foot. This foot used to be developed in America. The full form of this foot is Solid Ankle -Cushioned Heel. But there were some limitations for the user of SACH foot.The Indian handicapped especially living in rural areas had to face them a lot. The main problems were -firstly its cost was beyond the reach of many people and a simple man can't afford to buy it. Secondly a shoe was needed to cover the SACH foot, but the rural people have a habit to walk barefoot at home and wear slippers outside the house. In many rural areas it is a custom also to not to wear shoe at home. Thus to meet the requirement of rural amputee people an orthopedic surgeon of Jaipur, Dr.Promod Karan Sethi made the efforts and developed the popular Jaipur Foot. Dr Sethi, with the help of some local artisans developed an artificial limb that is- prostheses. The main difference among the two foots was that the Jaipur Foot was flexible as it was made of vulcanized rubber. Thus it was easy for a patient to squat, sit cross-legged and even walk on uneven paths of villages. Besides this it exactly looked like a normal foot so it can be used without shoe or slippers even in muddy fields. The other important innovation was its shank. Dr.Sethi has replaced the wooden shank of previous foot with aluminium one. It was cheaper as well as more comfortable one. It is the portion of the leg above the ankle and the foot piece. Thus this foot opened a new window for the handicapped people and decreased the sorrow of patient of loosing foot to a great extent. One of the great classical dancers Sudha Chandran was also able to dance again due to this foot only. The Jaipur Foot not only bought fame to Dr.Sethi but he was also rewarded for the same. He was honored with the Megsaysay Award and Padma Shri in 1981.Along with Dr.Sethi; Jaipur also achieved a great position in the world. Today Jaipur has become one of the India's largest artificial limbs Centres. Many people get its blessings every year in the form of the foot. In return they also give numerous of their blessings to the developer of this foot.