"Bionic Arm” Leads Neurologic Restorations

New advances in engineering and neuroscience are set to transform the lives of millions of people suffering from paralysis or the major consequences of stroke, amputation, and limb loss.

A new thought-powered "bionic arm,” said to be the most advanced prosthesis in the world today, requires wearers only to think about what they want the arm to do and the prosthesis will then do the job. Dr. Todd Kuiken at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC, IL, USA) developed the arm, working with a power company worker who had lost both arms above the shoulder in an accident.

Dr. Kuiken developed a procedure to graft the worker's amputated nerve endings from his shoulder onto the pectoral muscle in his chest. As those nerves grew to innervate the chest muscles, the electrodes located over the graft began to pick up electrical signals, reflecting the impulses and transmitting them to the mechanical prosthesis. A second-generation bionic arm provides greater function, movement, and spontaneous control, and a third-generation model now in development will incorporate the sense of touch and feeling.

Other RIC researchers are working on three breakthrough technologies in the areas of the brain/machine interface, brain magnetic simulation, and thought-powered prosthetics, all of which will be linked to critical functions of the central nervous system. RIC recently announced the donation of a U.S.$5 million gift from the Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust to establish the Searle Program for Neurological Restoration, which will oversee progress to help achieve the new breakthroughs.

More than 567 U.S. service men and women have returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan as amputees. "RIC is excited about the unmistakable potential our research has to help the U.S. military personnel returning from the war after suffering amputation,” said Dr. Kuiken, medical director of RIC's Amputee Programs.




Related Links:
RIC