Prosthetics
Imagine driving a car one day and all of a sudden you find
yourself in a bad car accident, screaming in pain. You arrive at the hospital
and undergo many procedures and surgeries, one of them being the amputation of
a limb, such as your leg. You may not know what will be next for you, how you
will get around in life, or how you can move on from this accident. Hundreds of
people a year have to go through this ordeal. In 2007, there were over 1.7
million amputees just in America *(1). Thanks to today’s
technology, people are able to get that important limb back in some form.
What Are Prosthetics?
Many people question what exactly is a prosthetic limb. The
technical definition is, “artificial, electronically operated mechanical
systems that can augment or replace living limbs or physical functions *(2).” In
simple terms, prosthetic limbs are artificial limbs that are put in place of a
biological limb. Most people would want to get a prosthetic limb because they
lost their normal limb, but some people make the choice not to. By making the
choice to get a prosthetic, one will find it easier to get around rather than
not getting a prosthetic in place.
How do they work?
The major question is how exactly prosthetics work. There
are several steps to making a prosthetic and it begins when the prosthetist,
someone who makes prosthetics, measures the length at which the certain limb
should be. This should usually be done before the limb is amputated for
specific measurements. After the patient gets their limb lost in an accident
and the wound is healed, the prosthetist forms a mold around the limb that has
been amputated. Depending on the limb that has been amputated effects which
kind of material is used to make the artificial limb. The prosthetist pays
close attention to the skin color and texture of the skin to make sure the
prosthetic limb matches completely *(3). The prosthetic is usually held on by
suction, and suction allows for more flexibility which allows for more
movement. Prosthetics getting even more advanced as the following video will show.
As the video explains, Zac Vawter can easily move his whole
leg, including his ankle, just like a normal leg. Because the doctors "rewired"
him, all he has to do is think about moving, and it moves. As he explained,
having this new technology makes it easier for him to get around than him using
a normal prosthetic. With a normal prosthetic, the amputee must figure out many new ways to do daily life
activities.
I-Limb Ultra
Another interesting advancement with prosthetics is the
I-Limb Ultra. The I-Limb Ultra is a bionic hand that is able to move every
individual finger. The owners of the I-Limb Ultra also made it possible for
people to get many different choices. These choices include, but are not
limited to, the different types of grips, and the different gestures allowed by
the hand *(4).
No comments:
Post a Comment