Prosthetic Limbs : Past, Present, and Future

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Recommended: A brief history of prosthetics

Prosthetic Limbs: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract:

The purpose of my research paper is to discover how artificial limbs work in

conjunction with the human body, which plastics are used in prosthetic limbs, and if there

are any better possible plastics out there that can be used. The 1.9 million people in

America who have lost limbs find it hard to pay for them, since they’re very expensive,

so I looked into materials used, which are currently plastics such as polypropylene and

carbon fibers. However, there are still some problems such as slow reaction time so

manufacturers and laboratories are looking into alternate solutions such as carbon

nanotubes and microchips. Research is expensive though, so I do not see the cost of

prosthetic limbs going down anytime soon.

With the cost of everything going up, the price of artificial limbs are going up as

well, some even reaching $100,000 just for an arm or leg, preventing many people from

getting one, even though it may be necessary to continue their job and normal life (New

Life and Limbs). Imagine you were a soldier in the Iraq War. There are about six

hundred soldiers who lose limbs from the war, which are costly to replace (War Fuels

Prosthetics). After serving your

country you would have to come

home with your life completely

changed, especially if you don’t

have enough money to pay for a

new limb. By looking at how

artificial limbs work with the body

and which plastics are used, I will

try to see if there are new plastics

which can reduce the cost and

make artificial limbs available to

more people around the world.

Although there are only 600 soldiers from the Iraq war who have come home with

lost limbs and needed to have them replaced, other ...

... middle of paper ...

...t-is-polypropylene.htm>.

Newton's Apple. "Prosthetic Limbs." Reach Out Michigan. Fall 2007. National Science

Teachers

Association. 27 July 2008

newton/prosthetic05.html>.

Ossur Prosthetics. "Prosthetics by Ossur." Ossur. 14 Aug. 2007. Ossur. 28 July 2008

.

Patel-Predd, Prachi. "Sensitive Synthetic Skin in the Works for Prosthetic Arms." Ieee

Spectrum

Online. 4 Jan. 2008. 29 July 2008 .

Singer, Neal. "Prosthetic Limb to be Controlled by Microchip." Sandia. Sandia National

Laboratories.

29 July 2008 .

The Associated Press. "New life and limbs for Iraq war amputees." MSNBC Health

News. 8 Mar. 2004.

MSNBC. 27 July 2008 .

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