RETHINKING THE SHOULDER DISARTICULATION PROSTHESIS: LET'S STOP THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX AND MAKE THE BOX BIGGER
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57922/mec.2471Abstract
In this article, authors explore how reducing the amount of technology and modifying the traditional shoulder disarticulation prosthesis design can lead to an improvement in task completion, device satisfaction, and reduced prosthetic abandonment. While new devices demonstrate potential for improved function, appearance, and control, there is a lack of translation of these advancements to actual daily functional improvements for the upper limb population. Prosthetic abandonment continues to be extremely high in the upper limb population even with improvements in the latest technology. Persons with shoulder disarticulation/ interscapular thoracic occupy less than 0.1% of the total population. With such a small population of potential users, many prosthetists default to caring for these individuals in a very traditional manner as they lack the experience to do so differently. Traditionally, shoulder disarticulation prostheses have consisted of a prosthetic shoulder, elbow, wrist, and terminal device. While these devices may be successful for some users, they are heavy and require an extensive amount of positioning before operating the terminal device. In a typical shoulder level prosthesis, there are six degrees of freedom to control and position prior to terminal device actuation. With current technology these degrees of freedom are typically sequentially controlled and may be positioned multiple times prior to attempting to operate the terminal device. The cognitive burden of positioning these movements and the time to do so are routine complaints of users. While offering access to function once correctly positioned, achieving the correct position is time consuming and fatiguing. The increased complexity and degrees of freedom for control in more proximal level users requires more cognitive load and could explain the higher level of abandonment with higher levels of limb difference. To combat this, the practitioners explored a novel design to reduce the complexity of operating the shoulder level external powered prosthesis and combat the common issues of function, comfort, and weight. The novel prosthesis was designed around the criteria of access to function at multiple levels (seated at a table and standing at a counter) and be able to complete bimanual activities of daily living (ADLs) such as meal preparation, household chores, stabilizing paper to write with the contralateral limb, and eating with a knife and fork.
Downloads
Published
2024-08-15
How to Cite
[1]
C. Fink, T. Bump, and D. Latour, “RETHINKING THE SHOULDER DISARTICULATION PROSTHESIS: LET’S STOP THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX AND MAKE THE BOX BIGGER”, MEC Symposium, Aug. 2024.
Conference Proceedings Volume
Section
Clinical Practice
