New Sensory Prosthesis enabled a man to hold his granddaughter again. The use of Neural-connected Sensory Prosthesis has been found to add more Functional and Psychosocial Experience of having a real hand. The participants were able to do certain tasks such as pick up a child, pick flowers, button a shirt or slice tomatoes properly. The findings of this study are published in the journal of Scientific reports.
‘In addition to the overall use and duration of wearing the artificial hand for more time and for more daily tasks, it was found that when it was sensory enabled the participants had greater confidence in using the hand to do day to day tasks and interact with their loved ones
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In fact, the study asserts that sensory feedback--achieved by direct interfaces attached to the nerves --fundamentally changed how the study participants used their mechanical attachment, "transforming it from a sporadically used tool into a readily and frequently used ’hand.’"The study was led by a pair of researchers from Case Western Reserve University, who collaborated with scientists from Brown University and partners at U.S. Veterans Affairs sites in Cleveland and Providence, Rhode Island.
In video interviews with Case Western Reserve, the two subjects who took part in the study talk about the impact that using the sensory-enable handmade in their home lives, from being able to pick up a grandchild to pick flowers, button a shirt or slice tomatoes.
Two aspects of the research make it significant: That is was conducted at home without restrictions on how the prosthesis was used; and the significant positive impact of sensory feedback--both functional and psychological--that resulted from extended use of the prosthesis, said lead researcher Dustin Tyler, the Kent H. Smith Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve.
Researchers have for nearly a decade demonstrated that restored sensation can aid in object identification and manipulation tasks, but that those results were produced in laboratory settings, Tyler said.
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"Once home, they’d often end up putting a traditional prosthesis on the shelf. We found the opposite to be true when they had a sense of touch--they didn’t want to stop using it."
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In addition to wearing the artificial hand for more time and for more daily tasks when it was sensory enabled, the participants had greater confidence in using the hand to do tasks and to interact with loved ones socially, said Emily Graczyk, a post-doctoral researcher at Case Western Reserve University and lead writer on the new study.
These psychological and emotional impacts of sensation could be critical for improving amputees’ quality of life, Graczyk said.
Prosthetic rehabilitation and virtually all research surrounding it has so far focused mostly on restoring physical function--not the psychosocial aspects of using a prosthesis, Tyler and Graczyk wrote in their paper.
Tyler said his research team is next looking at implanting devices to route the neural connections through Bluetooth technology to allow the amputee to "feel" the new hand through wireless connections between themselves and the device.
"When you add sensory feedback technology to something like a prosthetic hand, you add the most important thing that connects us together as humans--touch," Tyler said. "That’s a huge difference."
Source-Eurekalert