Informative Essay On Prosthetics

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to have one or more of your limbs amputated? A prosthetic "replaces a body part lost as the result of injury, disease, or a birth defect" (Childress). Prosthetics have been used for more than 2,000 years. The most developments happened during World War II. Wars are the places where most casualties such as limb loss occur the most(Prosthetics). The main causes of limb loss of the people that are currently living is 45% from trauma, 53% from vascular disease, and less and 2% from cancer (view graph on next page). Vascular disease includes diabetes and peripheral arterial disease (Limb Loss Statistics). There are many steps taken to prepare a patient for a prosthetic limb. The first step is amputation.

The surgeon had the decided the best design for the limb and adjusts the surgery to produce the best result (Prosthetics). “After the wound has healed, a prosthetist chooses an artificial limb or prosthesis that will either have to be a weight-bearing replacement, or an arm and hand prosthesis that will have to manage a number of different movements” (Prosthetics). After a person has received a prosthetic, then they have to get used to this new part of their body. This is both a physical and psychological challenge (Woodford). To this, there has to be a good “partnership between the patient and their prosthetist” (Woodford). This person helps the amputee through every stage of the prosthetic process. They are almost like a therapist assigned to help you through this life changing process. They help choose the best prosthetic, teach you how to operate this new limb, and help you with challenges like physical activity. On top of all that work, there are still prices to cover. “The price of a new prosthetic leg can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000… most expensive prosthetic limbs are built to withstand only three to five years of wear and tear” (Mohney). Once you get amputated, you would need a prosthetic limb for the rest of your life. On top of that, there are still medical cost to cover. After a severe injury, medical costs can go from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars (Mohney). "If you had to buy that prosthetic without insurance that would be financial catastrophe on top of a medical catastrophe," said Kolstad (Mohney). There should be more cost efficient prosthetics available to amputees because they are very helpful to the lives of amputees, boost confidence and self-esteem, and take away some psychological aspects from those without limbs.
One reason why there should be more cost efficient prosthetics available to amputees is because they help build more confidence and self- esteem.

Kerian said, “Once I had this hand, my friends ask, hey dude how’s it going [with the prosthetic hand]” (Nordstrom). They are talking to him about it. He loves it because he can pick up stuff and help. Kieran was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome and has no fingers on his right hand. People would bully him a lot (Nordstrom). Getting the prosthetic hand has made people appreciate him for who he is. By people treating with respect, he feels more confident with his hand. A company called e-NABLE, helps provide 3-D printed prosthetics to children and adults who are missing fingers, hands, and wrists (Nordstrom). “These things look like something ironman or a superhero would have and the kids love them for that reason,” said Schull (Nordstrom). The prosthetics make the kids feel like superheros. They feel that besides what their hands are, they have powers. "by boosting independence they boost optimism and both these things dramatically improve people's lives" (Woodford). Prosthetics give a person independence by them not needing anyone to help them they don’t feel helpless.When amputees receive prosthetics, they are happy. They feel like they can do anything if they set their mind to it. Having more cost efficient prosthetics, results in more amputees having a greater amount self-confidence in

themselves.
Another reason that there should be more cost efficient prosthetics available to amputees is because prosthetics are helpful to the lives of amputees.

“There are several criteria of acceptability for limb prostheses. They must be able to approximate the function of the lost limb. They should be light, comfortable to wear, and easy to put on and take off. Substitute limbs should also have a natural appearance” (Prosthetics). With a prosthetic, a non-amputee would probably not be able to distinguish the prosthetic from the real limb, when is is being used by an amputee. It would look and function almost exactly like a real limb. Making it efficient for the amputees. Also, with a lightweight prosthetic, there would be less stress on the stump that the prosthetic is holding onto. Materials that had been used to form the prosthesis included leather, plastic, or wood. Nowadays “materials such as carbon graphite, titanium, and flexible thermoplastics have permitted great advances in leg prosthetics.” This has made the prosthetics more useful and comfortable for the patients. Using electronic technology, there is a broader range of sensory feedback and control of artificial know swing and stance (Prosthetics). Prosthetics “serves one or more of three basic purposes: (1) it duplicates, as well as possible, the functions of the missing part; (2) it provides structural support for remaining tissues; and (3) it improves the person's appearance” (Childress). Prosthetics gives more

support to the stump. If an amputee has losses one of their legs, they will have to use a cane and their other leg for support. With a prosthetic, they can evenly distribute their weight on both legs. It improves a person’s appearance by helping them appear as a normal person. They might not like sharing what happened to them, and how they got their prosthetic. Therefore, with a prosthetic limb, people might not even know that an amputee is an amputee. Making a greater amount of cost efficient prosthetics available to amputees will result in prosthetics being more helpful to the lives of amputees.
A final reason that there should be more cost efficient prosthetics available to amputees is because prosthetics take away some psychological aspects from those without limbs. Phantom limbs are the perception that a limb that has been amputated to still attached to the body and it can still perform its functions. Most amputees also experience sensations of pain in their phantom limb (Cheriyedath). “[phantom limb pain] is a unique, subjective and highly individual experience that occurs in 80-90% of patients who have undergone an amputation” (Virani). Most people that receive amputations experience phantom limb pain. “The amount of phantom limb pain has been found to be highly correlated with the amount of injury-related, afferent-decrease cortical reorganization” (Weiss). If someone has a severe amputation, then they would experience more pain than a person with a minor amputation. Studies show that using a functionally prosthetic, shows a significant decrease in amount of phantom limb pain, cosmetic prosthetics show no change (Weiss). Prosthetics decrease the amount of phantom limb pain. Without them, amputees would experience a greater amount of pain, from a psychologically produced limb. Increasing the amount of cost efficient prosthetics will help take away some of the psychological aspects from amputees.