Devon Hethmon

5/7/2015
Freestone
English 11

Prosthesis. The word conjures up images of mutilated army vets and people going
down the street with these artificial parts strapped to them, which is often the case, but
how much do we really know about artificial limbs themselves? Why are they a valid
replacement? What work goes into them? How long will they be needed or effective?
There is much that people who arent involved are curious about. The procedures and
processes of someone with a prosthetic part vary from case to case as some of them
are body-powered, myoelectric, aesthetic, or are entirely unique in their purpose. Also,
the maintenance and wear of prosthetics can last anywhere from a couple of months to
about 10 years. New discoveries are being made every day, and people all over the world
are being united with artificial limbs that mimic the ones they lost.
First and foremost, you may occasionally see someone with a prosthetic device
and may be bewildered at the sight of someone with a missing body part, but once the
shock fades, you may wonder if other people have the same effect. You see a person,
but a significantly different person. This social aversion (stigma in certain cases) sprouts
from the fear of the unknown, or opposition against the different (such as those with a

tracheotomy, for smoking use). People in clinical and nursing environments, they have
gotten used to seeing people in this manner, outside the clinical environment however, it
is much less common to see someone with an obvious prosthesis. But the question
remains: How do other people look past those kinds of deformities and find a normal
human being? A shocking 65% of people are uncomfortable around those who are
disabled or disabled-adjacent. However there are small groups that raise awareness and
educate people that no difference is required, treat them in the same way you would
treat other people. On opposition, people more often fear being asked to be of
assistance and will not be able to help; an example would be in a class room and you
are called upon to answer a question that you had no grasp of, it is less about the
question, but more about the judgment and the feeling of helplessness. While the fear is
grounded, one must remember that at any time, you are talking about a human being
who had nothing more than a stroke of bad luck.
Moving from the societal impact of it, the next topic is aesthetic prosthesis, yes,
it sounds homey and comfortable, but the truth is it is meant to hide deformities, you
may regularly speak to someone who has one and you may not even know it. Some
examples may include: glass eyes, fingers, prosthetic noses and for some- hard plastic
molds of bodily features; Ones that mimic the look of a missing body part, but do not
have any actual function other than cosmetic use. Although having no practical use, it
has helped people regain confidence to function in society, and regain what they have
lost. Some examples of this are people who have had gum disease, breast cancer
survivors, and latex for severe burns and scars. Although it has had a huge boost for

morale on the disfigured population, scientists are still researching ways to regenerate
or recreate the parts that people have lost.
Now onto the more functional side of things, the introduction of body-powered and
myoelectric limbs. Body powered is not nearly as old as the aesthetic prosthesis, but is
still hundreds of years old. Some work through a sort of controller pulley system, where
using the other arm you can use a pulley to control the arm height, slight flexes control
the grip of it, and lateral movements are made possible by hip turning. As you could see
it required quite a bit of getting used to, but even more, it was still limited in how it
worked. The inferior-lower extremity limbs are fairly basic, they are your standard hookfoot apparatus, but superior lower-extremity limbs are very complex, because it is hard to
simulate the knee, while still having it stable enough to support the weight of the human
body. Some suggested having a spring-retaining knee, or a ball joint hip with a 3 prong
foot, but ultimately, it was much cheaper and easier to just get them a crutch. Hands
were surprisingly one of the first prosthetic parts, as how complex its function was,
however the design was very simple, most people may identify it with pirates and the
like, but hook hands and peg legs were actually in use by thousands of other people with
dismembered hands and inferior/ superior-lower extremity prosthetics. A couple hundred
years later, and myoelectric parts were born, an early system to replace body parts that
cannot be controlled conveniently or at all through the remnant systems. These are the
advanced bionic hands and arms you may see on TV and new world changing full body
suits that can help the paralyzed to walk again. As you may have guessed it is
electronically controlled, and is much cheaper, more reliable, and safer than any implant

that is supposed to do the same. Superior-lower extremity difficulty is now not an issue
as the mere pressure of the residual limb can get it to walk. While still superior-upper
extremity parts are still and issue of difficulty as there is still much to control, and it
must still be mounted to the body by straps and vacuum suction. However for the first
time, the disabled population can now use these prosthetics, such full body suits that
people who have never walked before can now take a walk around their house. People
who have never knew color in their entire lives can now experience color using a crownlike device that receives the light wavelength and through bone transduction can create
music; Some very interesting perspectives have been made by people who have used
the Eyeborg. Miracle devices such as the artificial lung, the dialysis kit, and even the
holy grail of bio-medical engineering the artificial heart- have all been prosthetics at one
point or another (or still are such as the lung and the dialysis kit). These bionic parts
have created new possibilities for people all around the world, and humanity is better for
it.
Now onto some less traditional examples but still valid enough to be spoken of.
The activity specific prosthetics are most likely ones you have heard of, the most
prominent are dentures. They are usually made of galvanized materials, as so they do
not rust. Hearing aids and retainers would also fall into that category, however hearing
aids are also categorized as myoelectric, but as it is just an amplifier it is similar to
glasses or an electro-larynx, just amplifiers of what is already there.
These contraptions are driving the way for intact people and the disfigured
community closer together as soon, we may not have use for these parts again. The

point of this paper is to educate, not indulge, the truth is that these are just
temporaries, until scientists finally make a breakthrough, and can regrow the parts that
have been lost and reunite them to their owners. In conclusion, prosthetics are just the
extension of people trying to live the life they deserve.