The History Channel International just had a program on the development of prosthetic limbs. Now I am confused, there are so many ‘state-of-the-art’ limbs nowadays.
Some, like racing or swimming legs (or arms) seem like very specialized products. Others (like hyper-realistic limbs) seem even more bizarre, sort party tricks.
(Of course from such speciality items we learn lessons that will become routine in the future.)
So tell me, Mike Doonesbury lost his leg (above the knee) in Iraq. What is the standard government-issue leg like nowadays? The strip made a comment about remembering to recharge the thing at night.
Well certainly modern devices allow a user to walk. (Not like the old days, I remember my Uncle Jack tottering with canes after he lost his feet.) But what does the regular-old leg look like, how does it work and how much does it cost?
Don’t tell me this simple question stumped the Dopers! :eek:
As the mother of a double amputee, I doubt very much that there is a “standard” prosthetic. The type you need depends on the type of amputation you have. From that point it varies as to the type you can afford. The higher the state of the art you go, the more comfortable and efficient the limb will be. I’d like to believe that the VA is offering the best of the suitable types, but I’m afraid that is merely wishful thinking on my part. I don’t know because my daughter’s amputation was due to a congenital defect. She now has severe knee pain because her doctor did not prescribe the best type as she was growing, and we didn’t know enough to challenge it. By the time we found out the damage was done.
Agree. I would like to be sure that our guys are getting the best. Another interesting point is that each (person’s) leg is different, I suppose the manufactured leg has to be fitted.
Well, for my daughter’s feet, the first step in her fitting is to make a mold of her stumps from a substance that starts out looking like plaster of paris, but ends up rubbery. She sticks her stumps in in this stuff, which is contained in the kind of bucket that construction products come in, (you know the ones that are a drowning hazard to toddlers), for about 15 to 20 minutes while trying not to wiggle too much. I don’t know how they get from that to a prosthesis, because that’s all behind the scenes work. But eventually they do, and then it’s a matter of several fittings as they try to get the things to fit comfortably without rubbing too much anywere. The first adjustments are done immediately, then she takes them home to see how they work in the real world, but they are never perfect, even after several fittings. My daughter has what’s called a Symes amputation, meaning that when they amputated her feet, they left her heel pad and used that as the bottom of her stump, so she can walk without her prosthesis. However, her particular defect caused her legs to not grow normally below the knee so without them she is about 4 and a half feet tall or so. She’s about 5’8" or 9" when she’s wearing them. As an infant, the sockets of her legs pretty much sat on her feet, but as she grew they added material in between on each new set to make her height proportional. We usually got about two years out of a pair of legs, with frequent adjustments in between for growth. Now that she is an adult, her adjustments are basically due to wear, or weight gain, and she has feet made from a material that has spring to it, so she has a more natural gait. She gets feedback from her feet that she didn’t get from the original style. I think there is also a difference in the socket itself, but I’m not sure, since she’s all grown up and doesn’t bring mom to fittings anymore.
