# But these arms won't work, right?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-these-arms-wont-work-right/458542>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 1, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-these-arms-wont-work-right/458542 "2008-08-01T21:20:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-these-arms-wont-work-right/458542/1 "2008-08-01T21:20:37Z")

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News story here about the first transplant of a whole arm–in fact two of them:

[http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080801/sc\_nm/germany\_transplant\_dc\_2](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080801/sc_nm/germany_transplant_dc_2)

Now, I’m just real sure that these arms aren’t ever going to be anything but dead weight for this guy, which makes this very complicated procedure essentially a cosmetic one–with the added liability of lifetime immune-suppressant therapy and injury/infection risks. Am I wrong? Are these arms going to magically grow nerves and work?

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-these-arms-wont-work-right/458542/2 "2008-08-01T21:53:12Z")

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They are [expected to be functional.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/2486203/Pictures-of-world-first-double-arm-transplant.html)

> [@](#):
>
> “In addition we were successful in connecting up the fire most important nerves in the arm with the shoulder. But that is only the outer casings. The nerves must grow into the arms. Such nerves grow only very slowly so it could take up to two years before he gets feeling in his fingertips.” […]
> 
> “He will have to come to terms with the fact that extremely useful organs that he has been without for so long are back but that they are those of a much younger person,” one therapist said.
> 
> “We shall have to tell him to take it easy on the weightlifting - getting younger arms might make him feel the years have slipped away but it won’t have much affect on his physical strength.”

Wow.