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INNOVATION FOR INDEPENDENCE
ISSUE 105 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 £6.95
Team successfully fits prosthesis that sends feelings By Dominic Musgrave AN Austrian team of researchers has successfully fitted a human being with a leg prosthesis that sends feelings to its wearer for the first time The study results indicate that it greatly increases safety when in motion. The new prosthesis is perceived to be much more similar to the original limb and helps to let torturous phantom pains subside. Prosthetics expert Dr. Hubert Egger, a professor at the FH Upper Austria (University of Applied Sciences), has, for the first time, fitted a human being with a sensory-enhanced prosthesis. Due to the neural interface, the patient has feeling on the sole of the prosthetic foot, and therefore manages much better to recognise the nature of the ground he/she is walking on. There is also more awareness of obstacles, which reduces the risk of falling. The re-established transfer of information also contributes to a more natural integration of the prosthesis into the body concept of the patient and, in this case, has led to the complete disappearance of previous long lasting pains. The patient also underwent “Targeted
Sensory Reinnervation”, a selective transfer of nerves, by OÄ Dr. Eva-Maria Baur and OA Dr. Thomas Bauer at the University Clinic for Reconstructive Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery in Innsbruck, which is a cooperation partner of the FH Upper Austria. During this procedure the sensorial nerve endings of the sole of the original foot were reactivated to serve as an indicator for pressure on the sole of the prosthetic. Another goal of the operation was to decrease pain from neural scarring (neuroma) by redirecting the nerves. The study results show that amputees and their lives can greatly benefit from all this. The method of “Targeted Sensory Reinnervation” will also be used on future patients at the University Clinic in Innsbruck to potentially bring an end to their phantom pains by allowing the artificial limb to resemble the original one more closely and naturally. The initiator of the research project, Hubert Egger, also headed the development of a prototype of a mind-controlled and sensory-enhanced arm prosthesis. The mind-controlled prosthetic arm was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014.
An ex-soldier who lost a leg in Afghanistan has recently completed a gruelling Tough Mudder assault course. James Cairns, 26, from Yorkshire completed the challenge in four hours and 42 minutes, despite suffering pain caused by the moisture rubbing on his leg. He said: “Tough Mudder is a big challenge for able bodied people let alone disabled people, it was even harder than I imagined it would be, but I didn't train at all, I got off a lads holiday a few weeks before.” James, who was shot in Afghanistan in October 2011, hasn’t stopped there. Next year he hopes to compete in the Orlando Invictus Games – a sporting event for wounded and ill service men and women. He also hopes to compete in the 1,500 metres at next year’s Paralympics.