From war to bionic legs to immortality

For better or worse, war has provided the impetus for new medical technology. The latest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have sent home many men and some women who suffered the loss of legs and arms. Although prosthetic limbs have been improving over the years, they are really no substitute for the real thing. That’s starting to change now, as we learn from an LA Times article about a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. A report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine describes how the team fit [a patient] with a prosthetic leg that has learned — with the help of a computer and some electrodes — to read his intentions from a bundle of nerves that end above his missing knee. For the roughly 1 million Americans who have lost a leg or part of one due to injury or disease, [the patient] and his robotic leg offer the hope that future prosthetics might return the feel of a natural gait, kicking a soccer ball or climbing into a car without hoisting an inert artificial limb into the vehicle. [The patient's] prosthetic is a marvel of 21st century engineering. But it is [the patient's] ability to control the prosthetic with his thoughts that makes the latest case remarkable. If he wants his artificial toes to curl toward him, or his artificial ankle to shift so he can walk down a ramp, all he has to do is imagine such movements. This is pretty remarkable stuff, and great news for the many people who have lost limbs and may benefit. But it a...
Source: Health Business Blog - Category: Health Managers Authors: Tags: Culture Devices Technology Source Type: blogs