Discussion on amputee-preference-census
Simon
to what you are looking for in this section. I have been a below
elbow amputee (left hand) since 12 years of age, and frankly have for
nearly 40 years been more than a bit discouraged with the abysmal pace
of developments in the world of prosthetics.
One of the biggest issues has long been power storage density to
increase long-term usability of myoelectronic prosthetics. Yet I have
read in recent years a great deal about micro fuel cell developments,
body heat thermoelectric power sourcing (military applications there),
and various types of catalytic fuel conversions to power small scale
power needs.
Another huge issue is cost - inasmuch as I lost my hand as a child,
virtually every insurance company I dealt with as an adult treated my
prosthetic needs as a pre-existing condition, and thus not their
fiscal concern. I obtained a myolelectronic limb in 1994, entirely
out of pocket, at a cost to myself of just over $18,000. At that time
replacement batteries cost $350 each, were only available through the
Otto Bock company, and the accompanying charger had zero reactive
sensing of charge levels in the battery and would thus overcharge and
destroy the battery if left in the charger too long.
I'd suggest three things as regards to determining amputee needs:
1) Get knowledge of the project out amongst the amputee community, by
any available means;
2) Set up a basic questionnaire accessible online to any amputee, to
determine the nature of their prosthetic need (foot, lower leg, above
the knee, hand, forearm, above elbow, etc);
and 3) What do they want/expect from a prosthetic device?
For myself I'd love to have a prosthetic hand/wrist combination with
rotation/flexure in the wrist, and finger/thumb mobility and speed of
reaction approximating the normal human hand. Frankly, the basic
myoelectronic "hand" is not a lot more than an electrification of the
cosmetic hands that have been available for over a hundred years, with
the addition of a rudimentary nerve impulse amplification system to
control actuator inputs.
Has anyone continued the work which was being done in applying
microhydraulics to hand actuation at the University of Manchester
(England) in the 1970's? If so, it certainly hasn't been visible
these last 3 decades. Also, there has been a good deal of press
coverage of recent developments in hand articulation by a company
using a modular approach to prosthetic assembly that allows limited
customization of digital lengths to make a prosthesis which fits the
users size but does not reguire one off complete custom fabrication,
while significantly increasing functionality and utility.
Determining the wants/needs of amputees is an excellent place to
start. If I can assist in developing a questionnaire, or developing
promotional materials for the OPP, let me know.
openpro...@gmail.com
In response to your comment on the Amputee Preference Census page:
Basically, rather than design a clinical study and attempt to record
data in clinics or hospitals, we're confident that we can find out a
lot by seeking the opinions of as many amputees as we can.
We're planning on designing a web-based survey with some open-ended
questions as well as some very specific ones about how happy amputees
are with prosthetics, whether they use them, and what they wish were
different about them (and if that might change any of the above
answers).
Armed with what we find out (and obviously I have opinions about what
I think we'll find, but I want to see what everyone thinks anyway), we
will see what we can do to change things so you don't feel the same
way about the next 40 years of prosthetic development as you have
about the last 40.
Any thoughts you have about what questions we should ask will be
incorporated into the final survey. If you're ambitious, feel free to
start a draft here: http://openprosthetics.wikispot.org/Amputee_Preference_Census
Thanks for your interest.
Jon Kuniholm