Prosthetics Essay

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Recommended: The development of prosthetics

Prosthetics have been available for amputees longer than most people today can ever realized. Prosthetics are artificial limbs that replace missing or damaged body parts. Early prosthetics from the Greek era utilized materials such as wood and stone to replace a missing limb. Today’s prosthetics are made of materials as revolutionary as titanium and synthetic fibers that may function on their own as a part of your body. These breakthrough developments have even allowed computers and robotics help amputees function as humans. There is some discussion and controversy related to possible negative effects of these advanced prosthetics. While prosthetics have been shown to have negative effects on some people, the majority of amputees claim prosthetics have given them another chance to live life as they did prior to their amputation.
Prior to prosthetic development, amputation was the only way to remove a problematic body part and still allow the individual to have the ability to contribute to society. Amputations have had the same main purpose for years; to repair a wound or remove a deformed or diseased body part (Murphy 28). However, Herodotus recorded the first known record of a body part
Hyre 3 made by a human. A man named Hegistrastos chopped off half of each foot, leaving only his heels, and had wooden feet put in their place (Murphy 7-8). This act created a new division of science now known as prosthetics. People interested in the art of creating prosthetics began to experiment with different materials to make them (Murphy 46). From 2001 to September 2010, the United States’ Department of Defense disclosed that more than 1,600 active service members in all branches lost one or more limbs. Along with war injuries, ...

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... pros and cons of accepting this device.
In conclusion, while prosthetics have been shown to have some negative effects on some humans, most amputees say prosthetics have given them another chance to live their previous lives. Fortunately, prosthetics have the ability to help amputees and others to return to lives similar to most humans. Thanks to prosthetics, people who have been challenged from even the simplest of tasks because the loss of their limbs now have been given a second chance at living a normal life. Prosthetics have the power to help make people feel like they once did before. However, not everyone that obtains a prosthetic feels as if they are the exact same as they were before. Whether someone was born had a deficient or missing limb, or lost a limb during their lifetime, there is hope for a more normal life thanks to the science of prosthetics.

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