Prosthetic Limbs Limitations

Medical Prosthetics
The Benefits and Limitations of Prosthetic limbs.
By Elisha Turner
Introduction
“Prosthetic” is a term that refers to devices designed to re-place a missing part of the body. (Stefania Sansoni, 2014)
Prosthetic limbs are an invention which have both come from the mind of people in the medical profession treating amputees but also from amputees themselves who recognise the need for technical advances and use of new materials as well as specialisation of design (Norton, 2007; Park, 2015).
Prosthetics has become a regular necessity because people need them for different reasons such as illness, mobility purposes and disfigurement.
The main topic of this essay will be about the in-depth research into medical prosthetics

Some are successful, whereas “some fail miserably…some are just miserable!” (Enabling the Future, 2014). The success of prosthetics is often due to quality of life, self-confidence, ability to have the use of a high functioning devices and regaining motion. However, prosthetics don’t work when the prosthetic does not look realistic, lack of mobility, poor fitting and a financial implication.

Prosthetics were first created by the Egyptians and date back to 950-710 BC. (Kim M. Norton, (2007) These were originally made from wood and leather and then moved onto more solid products such as whale bone. A man called Corporal Coles was gifted a prosthetic hand made from whale bone when he lost both of his hands whilst priming a cannon (Enabling the Future, 2014). The oldest artificial leg that was discovered and excavated, dates back to 300bc but was later destroyed during air raids that took place in World War 2. It was made of bronze and iron, with a wooden core, apparently for a below-knee

In the 1950’s and 60’s a drug called Thalidomide was given to pregnant women to ease morning sickness and aid sleep. It was believed that this drug caused a lot of babies to be born with severe birth defects including one of the case studies considered later in this essay. Following considerable numbers of birth defects from Thalidomide, CO2 powered prosthetic limbs were made with the idea that CO2 canisters would enable the prosthetics to make gas powered fine movements. (Enabling the Future, 2014) (Fig.2) This prosthetic toe was made from wood and leather and was discovered in an Egyptian tomb of a female mummy. Dating back to this time, prosthetics would have been almost unheard of and would have only be made for the wealthy if needed. It was known as the ‘Cairo Toe’ consisted of two wooden pieces which were lashed together by leather thread through holes bored into the wood; the toe also had a leather strap which secured the toe to the foot through more leather threads. (IP