The problem and potential with prosthetics

As I was folding laundry the other night, I realized something about amputees and prosthetic limbs.

It’s true that a lot of amputees don’t like using prosthetics because they’ve already adjusted without it, and adjusting back to having it is an unnecessary hassle. But I think the reason prosthetics seem more like an inconvenience than helpful tool is because we can’t control the mechanical body part we attach to ourselves.

In my experience using a myo electric prosthetic hand, I’ve had the hand completely detach from the arm and roll across the floor; I’ve had the battery die while grocery shopping at Mejier; fingers have stopped moving; different functions such as only having the thumb move have turned on accidentally; and magnets on the sleeve and inside the arm have fallen off.

It can be uncontrollable and essentially unreliable.

Don’t get me wrong, my prosthetic is very useful for certain things—like folding laundry, for example. It’s just difficult to ever think about wearing it constantly when I’m always worried about what it might do next.

It might just lose the grip on a plate or cup, and I’ll spill everything. Or stop working completely while I’m trying to take notes during an interview. It’s frustrating losing control of it out of no where. That certainly didn’t happen with my real hand.

That being said, I’m grateful that technology has come far enough for me to be able to simply move muscles on my arm and have the hand open and close. I’m confident there will be even more improvements in the future too, so I know the functionality will get better. While it is heavy, not waterproof and larger than my right hand, it certainly can do a lot.

I’m looking forward to seeing prosthetic limbs inch closer and closer to being the real thing. I think the more like actual body parts prosthetics become, the more amputees will use them and stop seeing them as an unnecessary hassle. The myo electric is my second prosthetic hand as it is, and I definitely use it more than I used my body powered one.

Despite the imperfections and annoyances, it’s always rewarding when I can switch it from the three finger grip to the thumb only grip to all fingers being used. Working through the glitches of technology isn’t easy, but it’s easier than folding laundry with one hand.