Going through an amputation operation is already a tough one. Getting one’s life back together after such an operation is always key. Luckily, there are often families and friends there to support.
Many a time, patients acknowledge the need for prostheses, and the questions beings to erode from there. Where do they sell one? When can you start using one? We recommend going to meet a doctor if you find yourself asking these questions. For now, we will help you out with the basics.
It is worth mentioning that one of the most important factors when choosing an arm prosthesis, leg, and foot prosthesis are correctly choosing the person who will design, manufacture and place the prosthesis. Over the years, the design, manufacture, and placement of upper limb prostheses and lower limb prostheses have evolved, as a result of the need to improve the processes and products offered to patients, to improve their quality of life.
Ideally, the need for a prosthesis should be thought about even before the operation is carried out. Of course, different types of prostheses are required for different types of operations. Also, your lifestyle influences the type of prosthesis you should likely go for.
For this factor, we have :
- Passive prosthetics
- Body-powered prosthetics
- Externally powered (myoelectric) prosthetics
- Hybrid prosthetics
- Activity-specific prosthetics
Passive prosthetics most likely give up functionality for “beauty”. By this, we mean that the makers try as much as possible to give this prosthesis a realistic look and sometimes give away the functionalities.
Body-powered prosthetics. Comparing it with its counterpart, body-powered prosthetics are built to be operated entirely by you. So your functional limbs and muscle coordinate the move of this prosthesis as opposed to the externally powered (myoelectric) prosthetics that use microprocessors to help coordinate actions.
Hybrid prosthetics combine the functionalities of both the body-powered and externally powered prosthetics.
Activity-specific prosthetics, just as the name suggests are made specifically for the activities the patient takes up every day.
Have you heard about the Bionic hand?
How about the Bionic hand. This one is equipped with a camera that instantly takes pictures of the object in front of it. The Bionic hand goes on to evaluate the shape and size of the object before activating a series of movements in the limb.
This prosthetic limb made a statement when it came back in 2017. It gave its owners the ability to automatically reach and grab an object without having to think about the action. Just like a real hand. In this way, the process requires that the object is in the line of sight of the Bionic hand. When this happens, the owner is physically stimulated, ordinating the muscles in the arm and generating movement in the prosthetic member. This Bionic hand reacts in one fluid motion.
Like we said, seeking medical advice is all the best route to take as it is during this process that one would get to know more about the choices one has.
Prostheses have undergone a lot of improvement as such you are sure of getting a bit of comfort and a higher degree of usefulness.