For most amputee patients, the brain still thinks the hand is there, according to Touch Bionics CEO Stuart Mead, so they are capable of moving a hand--if only there were a hand to move. And the muscles that would normally move the hand still behave in the same way as if the hand were there, he said. The i-Limb works by detecting electrical signals triggered by the contraction of the same muscles used to control any normal hand. Those signals are picked up by electrodes on the surface of the skin and trigger movement in the hand or fingers.
This same system, called myoelectric control, is used in many other prostheses. So people who have used other myoelectric prosthetic hands are able to learn to use an i-Limb Hand quickly.
Jose Ramos, a 27-year-old student and former Navy Corpsman, lost his left hand in Iraq. Shown here with his i-Limb Hand, Ramos mimics a clinician giving him the thumbs-up.
Photo by Touch Bionics
