We are on our way to the beginning of our project. The first step of our long but adventurous journey was to physically put on the device we ordered. The Triple Eight Street Elbow Pad was the device we chose because the customer ratings was five stars.
Each member of the team including the team leader, had to wear this device from the day we wake up in the morning to when we go to bed the week of (1/26) . This is for us to have a review of our own selves and to see how it feels on our skin which is the best way to understand the customers who will be buying the device.
Save-A-Joint has put their reviews onto a Design Matrix so we could figure out what customer needs are needed when creating our elbow device. According to the The New England Journal of Medicine, out of the 161 students (78 percent) that were interviewed for in-line skating injuries, 28 percent wore elbow pads while competing. Which is not a good thing. Elbow pads protect the Ligaments from ripping, and the bones disattaching from the hinge joint if the blow to the elbow is big. When we created our model of the elbow with pipe cleaners, modeling clay, wire, and paint, this helped us realize how the hinge joint worked and how important the ligaments are in the elbow. This model helped us get a general idea of what parts of the elbow to protect the most. I personally didn’t know much about the ligaments when we started this project, This gave me a better understanding of the elbow and the hinge.
Our Team has completed these Customer Needs Assignments and now we are starting to begin our Design Proposal. When beginning this project, I was a bit scared as to how this was going to go, just because last semester when we did our helmet for rugby players, we had a difficult time reaching each other when we needed help and took us a while for all of our group to get used to each other. But at the end we all work together just fine, if someone asks a question, we answer it right away. If a group member is having trouble with their part, we help out. This DAP project will surely help us in our journey as innovators and as biomedical students in the future.
StarPathDesign 
I really enjoyed reading this, the statistics were really reassuring about your device that you plan to make. My group is doing the knee which is very similar to the elbow, both of them being hinge joints, “This model helped us get a general idea of what parts of the elbow to protect the most” this is very true. It is extremely helpful to know where everything is located and if there is an impact where it affects the joint the most. For example, landing wrong could tear your meniscus resulting in a (you guessed it) a torn meniscus. I am very confident that your group will succeed, and do very great things in the future. Thank you for writing this! – Sarahi Villalobos, ReJoint Inc.
I really enjoyed reading your description of the “Walk A Mile In My Shoes” activity and why it was important to your/our project. I thought that you were very descriptive when describing everything in your post and especially when explaining the hinge joint. I can agree/relate with what you were saying because RunnerPro (the team that I am in), has the knee and we are focused on the hinge joint. One thing that stood out to me in your post was when you said “If a group member is having trouble with their part, we help out. This DAP project will surely help us in our journey as innovators and as biomedical students in the future.” This stood out to me because it shows that you are very dedicated in your team and in helping each team member thrive off of each other. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and reflecting upon what you were saying. Good job! -Dimanique RunnerPro