About 75% of amputees exhibit mobility of their phantom limb. Using this information, in collaboration with physicians, researchers from CNRS, Aix-Marseille University and Sorbonne University have developed a prototype capable of detecting these movements and activating a prosthetic arm. The prosthesis does not require any surgery and patients do not need training. The results are published on November 29, 2018 in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology.
Most amputees feel sensations where their missing limb used to be, hence the name “phantom limb.” In a previous study, researchers had shown that more than 75% of amputees can voluntarily move their phantom limb. The execution of these “phantom” movements, such as for instance finger pinching, the hand making a fist, or the wrist rotating or flexing, are always associated with specific muscle contractions in the stump. In people with an upper arm amputation, these contractions concern muscle groups that are not connected with the joints used before the amputation, as if muscle reinnervation had spontaneously occurred, without surgery.
The team of researchers has developed a natural approach of prosthesis control that exploits this phenomenon. For the prototype, the researchers created algorithms capable of recognizing muscle activity generated by mobilization of the phantom limb and reproduction of the detected movement by the prosthesis: intuitive control, without training or surgery.
In the tests, two transhumeral amputees used this type of control to act with a prosthesis not worn but placed near their arm stump. The results were very encouraging. They showed that the participants could control the prosthesis and achieve the task after only a few minutes of familiarization with the system, despite long action periods. This research is very promising, since arm amputees often have difficulty in controlling their prostheses effectively, to a point that many give it up.
The arm prosthesis prototype used for the experiments, composed of a motorized elbow (1), an electronic wrist rotator (3) and a polydigital hand, the Touch Bionics Robolimb (4).
The researchers are continuing their work by moving on to tests on prostheses being worn, while also contributing to increasing knowledge about the phenomenon of the phantom limb, whose mechanisms are not yet properly understood. These scientists have also shown the need to reconsider the phenomenon of phantom limbs, generally taboo, often attributed to mourning the lost limb, and mainly considered from the angle of pain.
Learn more: A prosthetic arm that decodes phantom limb movements
The Latest on: Phantom limb
[google_news title=”” keyword=”phantom limb” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Phantom limb
- Fortis Hospital gives new lease of life to 22-year-old bomb blast survivor from Yemenon May 7, 2024 at 7:00 am
Fortis Hospital Bannerghatta Road successfully treated a 22-year-old wheelchair bound patient from Yemen, who suffered from debilitating Phantom Limb Pain following a traumatic bomb blast ...
- Fortis Hospital Bannerghatta Road gives a new lease of life to 22-Year-Old Bomb Blast Survivor from Yemenon May 6, 2024 at 11:01 am
Fortis Hospital Bannerghatta Road successfully treated a 22-year-old wheelchair bound patient from Yemen, who suffered from ...
- Meta Ray-Bans, 6 Months Later: The Best AI Companion Happens to Be Camera Glasseson May 6, 2024 at 5:33 am
They're wonderful vacation companions and memory makers. The AI part is just a bonus that's along for the ride.
- LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens - The Phantom Limbon April 8, 2024 at 5:10 am
All the latest game footage and images from LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens - The Phantom Limb by Traveller's Tales | 2016 2 / 6 3 / 6 4 / 6 5 / 6 6 / 6 ...
- Phantom limb pain: Why does my amputated leg still hurt?on March 15, 2024 at 6:33 am
But almost immediately after he lost it, he felt a severe pain — right there, where his leg used to be. It's what's known as phantom limb pain, or simply phantom pain. And it's quite common: Over 70% ...
- Phantom Limbon April 28, 2023 at 7:56 pm
Luba Bocian (Vivian Braun)Josh Hartwell (Archie Black)Thomas House (Self)Kanene Knox (Accident Victim)Toyja Parks (Onlooker 2)Stacey Ramon (Onlooker 1)Luke Sorge (Erik Ortvad) Thomas House When ...
- India's Phantom Limb Is Paining Againon February 5, 2022 at 12:43 pm
The trouble is that this time it wasn't separatists who sparked the fire PAK Vs NZ, 1st T20I: Mohammad Amir’s Return Put On Hold As Rains Play Spoilsport - In Pics ...
- Phantom Limbson July 6, 2021 at 1:28 pm
In reality, the region we now identify as South Asia has existed for millennia that has been populated by humans for most of its history. Nationhood, citizenship, and identity are recent constructs; ...
- phantom limbon June 23, 2018 at 5:00 pm
It continues to send signals out, but since they no longer have a destination, the person is stuck with one-way communication and a phantom-limb feeling. The fact that the brain carries on has ...
- From Ramachandran's Notebookon March 30, 2017 at 7:32 pm
If only all people with phantom-limb syndrome felt such pleasurable sensations. Unfortunately, amputees often experience excruciating phantom pain in their missing body parts. Even those who may ...
via Bing News
