Bionic Hand Offers Hope After Paralysis, Amputation

posted on Jun 09 by Admin in the Disability News, Health, Paralysis Cures, Technology category

At age 26, Milo crashed his motorcycle and skid into a lamp post, injuring his leg and shoulder, leaving his arm and hand paralyzed. He eventually gained back movement in his arm, but unfortunately not his hand. Therefore he decided to get his hand amputated and replaced with a bionic hand controlled by nerve signals in his arm.

“The operation will change my life. I live 10 years with this hand and it cannot be (made) better. The only way is to cut this down and I get a new arm,” Milo said prior to his surgery.

Viennese surgeon Professor Oskar Aszmann will be performing Milo’s surgery which will be the surgeon’s second elective amputation. Aszmann likes to call these procedures “bionic reconstruction.”  The bionic hand allows the patient to twist and flex their wrist in normal rotations by using brain signals that would be used to direct a real hand.

Twenty-four-year-old Patrick was the first patient to ever undergo elective amputation for bionic reconstruction. He had his hand amputated like Milo and got it replaced with a fitted bionic hand a year ago. Now Patrick can tie his shoes and even open a bottle quickly using his new hand. “I can do functions which I did with my normal hand with the prosthetic arm. I think it was very cool – I did not do things with my hand for three years and then you put on the new hand and one moment later you can move it. It’s great.”

After his surgery, Milo groggily stated, “I feel good. I’m happy that it’s over and look forward.”

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13273348