Eutrusca
06-10-2005, 17:04
COMMENTARY: "It's an ill wind that blows no good," goes an old saying. War sucks, that much is true. But at least this is one good thing that has come out of the war in Iraq.
Military to Fund Prosthetics Research (http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,78222,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl)
USA Today | October 06, 2005
WASHINGTON - The Defense Department is embarking on a multimillion-dollar research program to revolutionize upper-body prosthetics after a surge in troops who have lost hands and arms in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The technology for artificial hands and arms hasn't improved much since World War II. During the next four years, the Pentagon will spend almost $35 million to develop improved artificial arms, aiming for one a Defense Department report says will "feel, look and perform" like a real arm guided by the central nervous system.
The commitment is the largest pool of funding for prosthetics in at least a decade, says Jan Walker, a spokeswoman for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which will award the contracts.
Improved body armor has led to the increased injuries to arms and hands, says Lt. Col. Paul Pasquina, medical director of the amputee program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The armor protects the upper torso but not the limbs and in some cases saves troops who would have died in previous wars. Also, Pasquina says, insurgents' use of rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs causes devastating injuries that lead to amputations.
A total of 337 U.S. troops have lost at least one limb in Iraq or Afghanistan and have been treated at Army military hospitals. Of those, 93, or more than a quarter, are hand or arm amputees.
Overall, hand and arm amputees make up only about 5% of all Department of Veterans Affairs patients who have lost a limb from wartime injuries, accidents or disease, department spokesman Terry Jemison says.
Artificial legs are more sophisticated than upper-body prosthetics, because there's a larger market for them, says Todd Kuiken, director of the amputee program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. It's difficult, he says, to design artificial arms and hands light enough to be practical and to replicate the hand's fine motor skills.
Amputees control artificial hands and arms by moving muscles attached to the prosthetic devices. Some artificial legs run on computer chips and can closely replicate human movements.
An estimated 1.2 million Americans are missing at least one limb, according to the Amputee Coalition of America, a non-profit group in Knoxville, Tenn.
"Investment into artificial limb research tends to follow wars. This war has encouraged more research," Kuiken says.
Military to Fund Prosthetics Research (http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,78222,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl)
USA Today | October 06, 2005
WASHINGTON - The Defense Department is embarking on a multimillion-dollar research program to revolutionize upper-body prosthetics after a surge in troops who have lost hands and arms in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The technology for artificial hands and arms hasn't improved much since World War II. During the next four years, the Pentagon will spend almost $35 million to develop improved artificial arms, aiming for one a Defense Department report says will "feel, look and perform" like a real arm guided by the central nervous system.
The commitment is the largest pool of funding for prosthetics in at least a decade, says Jan Walker, a spokeswoman for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which will award the contracts.
Improved body armor has led to the increased injuries to arms and hands, says Lt. Col. Paul Pasquina, medical director of the amputee program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The armor protects the upper torso but not the limbs and in some cases saves troops who would have died in previous wars. Also, Pasquina says, insurgents' use of rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs causes devastating injuries that lead to amputations.
A total of 337 U.S. troops have lost at least one limb in Iraq or Afghanistan and have been treated at Army military hospitals. Of those, 93, or more than a quarter, are hand or arm amputees.
Overall, hand and arm amputees make up only about 5% of all Department of Veterans Affairs patients who have lost a limb from wartime injuries, accidents or disease, department spokesman Terry Jemison says.
Artificial legs are more sophisticated than upper-body prosthetics, because there's a larger market for them, says Todd Kuiken, director of the amputee program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. It's difficult, he says, to design artificial arms and hands light enough to be practical and to replicate the hand's fine motor skills.
Amputees control artificial hands and arms by moving muscles attached to the prosthetic devices. Some artificial legs run on computer chips and can closely replicate human movements.
An estimated 1.2 million Americans are missing at least one limb, according to the Amputee Coalition of America, a non-profit group in Knoxville, Tenn.
"Investment into artificial limb research tends to follow wars. This war has encouraged more research," Kuiken says.