Former US Marine And Bionic Arm
Claudia Mitchell, a former US Marine, who lost an arm in a motorcycle accident, is the first woman to be fitted with a new prosthetic arm controlled by her own nerves, says The Times.
“The night before she showed off the left arm at a news conference, she used it to cut a steak — the first she had been able to eat in a conventional way since her accident more than two years ago. ‘That was a very big thing for me,’ she said.
“High-tech prosthetic limbs have a chequered history. More often than not, patients fitted with them give up and revert to simple devices with a good appearance but little functionality. But engineers keep trying to achieve the ideal — a limb that is controlled by the brain and works well while looking near-normal.
“Ms Mitchell, 26, is one of six people trying out the latest model, developed by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. With her older prosthetic arm, she could do only one thing at a time — either open her elbow or open her hand. And to do so, she had to concentrate on a particular muscle…..”
One Response to “Former US Marine And Bionic Arm”
The newspaper here in Spain mentioned her the other day, celebrating that she could now cut a steak and wash the dishes. I’ll admit to maybe being a little over-sensitive, but I didn’t like the “wash the dishes” bit, as I’m 90% certain that if it had been a man, dishwashing would NOT have been the example of choice.
In any event, it’s good news. I read a curious thing about the arm. According to the woman, when someone touches the place where the elecrodes touch here nerves, the FEELING is that someone is touching her fingers. What I don’t understand is why all the metal needs to show near the shoulder. Isn’t it a simple matter to just cover that area with a skin coloured flexible plastic?
Very cool, in any event.