Upgrading the Prosthetic Hand

Comments

• Exciting Shiladie on 05/19/2008 at 9:22 AM

  Posts: 37 Avg Rating:

  There are some fields of breakthroughs that I simply find much more thrilling to hear about.  This is one of them, mostly because it has immediate, as well as long term, effects on people's lives.  it seems we are on the edge of where these prosthetics function better then the human original, and all it will take is them improving a bit more over the next few years and coming down in price before I can see products for people without disability.  Upgrades if you will. Rate this comment: (Reply)

• 	Is it just me... Monsterboy on 05/19/2008 at 9:53 AM
  Posts: 62 Avg Rating:	...or did the paragraph on the move to wearable exoskeletons near the end seem like a sudden shift to an article in The Onion? Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • 	Re: Is it just me... Shiladie on 05/19/2008 at 12:14 PM
    Posts: 37 Avg Rating:	hehe, yea, I got that a bit too Rate this comment: (Reply)

• Additional Comment kbaggott on 05/26/2008 at 2:25 PM

  Posts: 1

  Yes, technical terms often sound like something out of the Onion. And yet, there is no other word accurate enough to describe the direction prosthetic devices are going in. But, these devices are about people, not about vocabulary and so, I would like to add the comments of Karen Valley, Director, National Amputee Centre for the War Amps. The War Amps is a Canadian charity that outfits both war and child amputees with prosthetic devices. Valley describes herself as a "below the elbow amputee." She uses the iLimb and her comments came in after my deadline on this piece. Some valuable points: "The advancement in upper limb prosthetics is long overdue, and I am certainly interested in what new devices are available.  Having been fitted with a myo-electric early after they hit the common market, I am also somewhat reluctant to jump into anything new, for several reasons. "The cost of the iLimb is very high and therefore out of reach to the average client.  Hopefully these costs will come down and be more accessible. "The original myo-electrics were very heavy and the current models are lighter in weight and easier on the body.  I hope that the new model has not sacrificed weight for function. "There were many bugs to be found in my first few years as a myo-electric user," Valley says. "I am thrilled that technology is starting to catch up to the needs of upper limb amputees.  If the above concerns can be addressed, this new device would be of great benefit to the daily life of an arm amputee." For more information see http://www.waramps.ca Rate this comment: (Reply)