The Future of Prosthetics

Pavan Sreerama

Blog 2

Neuro 300

The Future of Prosthetics

There are around 2 million people living in the United States with missing limbs; this number increases by almost 200,000 people every year. This is just in the US, there are around 30 million amputees worldwide. According to several studies conducted by the Amputee Coalition group, 28 percent of amputees believe that they have discriminated against, (in employment, healthcare system, school, etc.).  Almost 30 percent of all amputees will be diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety. As of now most prosthetics are very clunky, restrict movements and do not allow for fine motor control (which are required for tasks such as playing instruments, writing, cooking, etc.). Another problem is that there are no commercially available prosthetics that have any form of sensory feedback. This is important because if one does not get sensory information back from a prosthetic limb they will not able respond accordingly to the environment. Fixing these problems will help amputees have a better quality of life.

Dr. Kuiken and his research team have developed a method using target muscle reinnervation (TMR) to improve the overall function of prosthetics limbs. TMR is a specialized surgical operation that helps improve the motor function of prosthetic limbs (upper limbs). First, surface electrodes are placed in the person’s prosthetic socket. Then the remaining neuronal cells in the patient's amputated limb are transferred to the chest (pectoral muscle). This is because the nerves cells will generate specific EMG signals which used to produce movements in the “elbow, wrist and hands”. They will act as an amplifier for which allows for more fine and overall motor control. Patients who received the TMR surgery showed a greater proficiency of control of the prosthetics arm in a shorter time frame. The patients were all able to perform basic tasks within the first day.

Ivan Owen is an American artist who created a metal mechanical arm for a cosplay convention and posted it online. A man from South Africa who lost his fingers in an accident and mother with a 5-year old born without fingers contacted him about creating a prosthetic arm. Owen eventually started a volunteer organization called Enabling the Future. This organization raises money for purchasing 3d printers which provide cheap prosthetics to people worldwide. As of today, the organization has over 7000 members and donated 2000 printers to dozens of countries. The organization’s 3-D templates are all open source, so anyone can use them or come up with useful modifications and re-upload them. These 3D printed limbs are especially useful for children because they are constantly growing and need new limbs every two years. Jorge Zuniga, a biomechanics scientist from the University of Nebraska in Omaha, heard about this program and after months of research, created an efficient cost-effective design called the cyborg beast. It only cost around 30 dollars to make and his design was downloaded almost 50 thousand times.

Dr. Kuiken’s cutting-edge research is extremely promising and can revolution prosthetics industry. However, there is no use increasing technological marvels when it is not accessible to the general population. According to a study financed by the Jordan Thomas Foundation, the cost of a prosthetic arm can be upwards of fifty thousand dollars. A child would need to replace their prosthetics every two years (because they are constantly growing), compared to adults who need to replace them every 2-5 years. This means an 8-year-old child’s cost of prosthetics replacement will be three hundred thousand dollars by the time they are 18 ($50,000 x 6 = $300,000). There are 30 million amputees (majority are from developing nations) and according to a Gallup metric, the worldwide median per capita household income is less than 3,000 dollars; most people cannot afford the financial burden required for these prosthetics.

On the other hand, organizations such as Enabling the Future provide very affordable prosthetics that anyone can buy. These prosthetics give some level of functionality to people who otherwise would never be able to access the more expensive ones.  But these prosthetics lack almost all of the features found in the higher end models (such as TMR). Hopefully, in the future, strides will be taken to bridge the gap between accessibility and functionality. Dr. Kuiken (and his team) and the workers of Enabling the Future have taken two different approach help make the lives of amputees better.

Works Cited

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/301/6/619

https://accessprosthetics.com/15-limb-loss-statistics-may-surprise/

https://www.amputee-coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/lsp_people-speak-out_120115-113243.pdf

https://jordanthomasfoundation.org/true-cost-prosthetic-limbs/

http://news.gallup.com/poll/166211/worldwide-median-household-income-000.aspx