Ascend is made of lightweight carbon fiber and high-strength woven fabric. The pneumatically powered device is connected to a rechargeable battery carried in a backpack. Sensors in the custom-fitted knee brace provide real-time data to Ascend’s microprocessors, where proprietary algorithms detect user intent, then extend and flex the knee. Ideally, this relieves pain and increases patients’ ability to navigate stairs and master previously simple everyday activities.
Rowan Paul, a sports medicine doctor who has consulted on Ascend, says it may appeal to those who are reluctant to use a cane because of the stigma of disability it carries. The knee brace makes them look like an athlete with an injury, he says. Ascend could also reduce or eliminate the need for opioid pain meds or cortisone injections, which offer temporary relief for osteoarthritis but come with a risk of side effects.
“I have seen several patients, where if we can just give them a little bit of help in a very targeted, precise way, they don’t need to do a knee replacement,” says Paul.
Roam’s market research puts the number of patients who are living with severe pain and limited mobility because of osteoarthritis of the knee at 10 million or more.
The company has opened a storefront in San Francisco where patients can test drive Ascend. Reid Weaver drove down from Tacoma, Washington, in June to try one out and was sold on the product. “It’s so comfortable and it’s so light, you don’t even feel that it’s there,” says Weaver, who spent 19 years as a SWAT police officer in Washington state and now works as a court officer protecting judges in Tacoma.
Weaver had leg surgery after a hiking accident but the surgery exacerbated his osteoarthritis. An avid outdoorsman who played football in college, Weaver, 60, manages to ride a motorcycle to work. With the Ascend knee brace on, Weaver finds he can go up and down stairs with ease and was surprised that it was no longer a struggle to get up from a chair, a challenge for many with osteoarthritis in their knees.
“This thing was way more powerful than I thought it would be,” says Weaver. “It basically lifted me out of a sitting position without using my hands, without lurching forward. I think it’s going to be a game changer.”
52-year-old Angelique Newman-Malone of San Jose, California, says she felt trapped in her own body by osteoarthritis. After stumbling upon an ad for Ascend on Facebook, Newman-Malone wore the knee brace on multiple occasions and pronounced it a godsend.
“I felt like I had somebody supporting me, like a buddy to walk next to me,” she says. “That feeling is amazing.”
But the best perk for Newman-Malone is that the knee brace allows her to kneel and then get up. A devoutly religious Christian, she said the ability to kneel when she prays is crucial.
On the Slopes and the Battlefield
Roam has two other smart knee brace models in development. Elevate, Roam’s knee brace for skiing, was available for renting at ski resorts in the western US for two winter ski seasons but wasn’t in use last winter because of the pandemic. Roam COO Nikhil Dhongade says he’s hopeful skiers wearing Elevate will be back on the slopes for the 2022-2023 winter season.
Roam has also been developing a smart knee brace for soldiers. Swift says the Army’s Special Operations Command has been testing the military model, which is called the Forge.
While Elevate and The Forge can be worn on both knees, Ascend has been designed for a single knee because osteoarthritis tends to manifest in one leg initially. Roam’s Tim Swift notes that more than the 80% of total knee replacements are done on just one leg.
Swift says that as impressive as these high-tech knee braces are now, wait until you see where these wearable robots are heading. To drive home the point, he uses terms associated with aviation and automobiles.
“We’re not at the end of any runway here, we’re at the very start,” says Swift. “What we’re building here is much closer to the model T than the Toyota Corolla.”
Editors’ Note: Editors’ Note: This story was updated to clarify that Ascend arrives this winter, not fall.
