Yeah, plus the “cutting edge” prosthetic tech we currently have is mostly overhyped marketing.
There are about a dozen powered prosthetics I always see on social media that always look really cool and the “patients” always go on and on about how useful it is…What people don’t realize is those “patients” are being paid by the manufacturer, and usually part of the deal is that they get the limb for free.
They don’t tell you about having to wear a heavy battery pack that only lasts for a couple hours. They don’t tell you that you have to pre-program routines like tying your shoe laces. That you have to purposely concentrate on flexing residual muscle groups in your limb to activate those routines. Nor do they tell you that the majority of patients who own those devices usually revert back to a manual prosthetic for functional tasks, or just choose not to wear a prosthetic at all because they can achieve more function with their stumps.
While prosthetics have started looking more futuristic and functional, unfortunately we haven’t really advanced any technology that actually improves function and utility since the late 90’s. And I highly doubt we’ll ever make a prosthetic that provides more utility than the limb it’s replacing, not in our lifetime at least.
I remember many years ago there was some study being done into deer antler as a way to integrate implants with zero chance of rejection (something about deer antler being bone that penetrates through the skin without causing any problems), and something about using squid cartilage for implanting circuitry for similar reasons, but the coolest advancement that I’ve seen for prosthetics has been 3d printing.
I saw an open source project for 3d printing prosthetic limbs with a focus on making affordable prosthetics for kids since they grow so quickly they need new fittings quickly as well. And beyond that, I haven’t heard of pretty much anything new in easily decades. The fact that much of our prosthetics technology isn’t that different from what they had in the Civil War is sad.
Yeah, plus the “cutting edge” prosthetic tech we currently have is mostly overhyped marketing.
There are about a dozen powered prosthetics I always see on social media that always look really cool and the “patients” always go on and on about how useful it is…What people don’t realize is those “patients” are being paid by the manufacturer, and usually part of the deal is that they get the limb for free.
They don’t tell you about having to wear a heavy battery pack that only lasts for a couple hours. They don’t tell you that you have to pre-program routines like tying your shoe laces. That you have to purposely concentrate on flexing residual muscle groups in your limb to activate those routines. Nor do they tell you that the majority of patients who own those devices usually revert back to a manual prosthetic for functional tasks, or just choose not to wear a prosthetic at all because they can achieve more function with their stumps.
While prosthetics have started looking more futuristic and functional, unfortunately we haven’t really advanced any technology that actually improves function and utility since the late 90’s. And I highly doubt we’ll ever make a prosthetic that provides more utility than the limb it’s replacing, not in our lifetime at least.
Plus, a lot of them just end up being no longer supported at all. Oopsie your Planned Obsolescent Leg needs replacing again
I remember many years ago there was some study being done into deer antler as a way to integrate implants with zero chance of rejection (something about deer antler being bone that penetrates through the skin without causing any problems), and something about using squid cartilage for implanting circuitry for similar reasons, but the coolest advancement that I’ve seen for prosthetics has been 3d printing.
I saw an open source project for 3d printing prosthetic limbs with a focus on making affordable prosthetics for kids since they grow so quickly they need new fittings quickly as well. And beyond that, I haven’t heard of pretty much anything new in easily decades. The fact that much of our prosthetics technology isn’t that different from what they had in the Civil War is sad.