‘Groundbreaking’ bionic arm that fuses with user’s skeleton and nerves could advance amputee care

Imagine your bionic arm subscription running out mid shit.

This kind of stuff is there only thing I want from a cyberpunk future.

I'm a practicing prosthetist in the US. Myoelectric hands are nothing really that new and even getting control over the hand by surgically dropping an emg directly into the muscle groups (though their diagram implies they did something different) isn't terribly groundbreaking. The FDA had that technology in animal testing right around the start of the pandemic, from what I remember talking to an engineer working on a project.

For me, the exciting part is the osseointegration through the forearm. Osseointegration has been going on since like the 90s, but for a long time it was only through the femur. The first reason is really that the West has way more lower limb than upper limb amputations which is a different story. The second reason is that the femur is a big bone with a lot of interior space for an implant to anchor.

Recently I've been seeing transtibial osseointegration surgeries being performed, which has been a pretty big deal. This is the first I've seen of it being done to a transradial.

I will definitely be reading more about this at work tomorrow.

Nice. In the near future, some bionic arm dude is gonna rip his dick off while jacking too hard.

Is it going to be insanely expensive and not covered by insurance?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The technology fuses the bionic arm to the user’s skeleton, while also connecting it with the nervous system using electrodes that are implanted in nerves and muscles.

This transformation in Karin’s life is a result of a unique technique which essentially fuses the user’s skeleton to the bionic arm using osseointegration - where an implant is accepted by the bone as part of it, rather than as some foreign object.

A team of engineers and surgeons led by Catalan developed the human-machine interface, which also enables electrical connection with the user’s nervous system by using electrodes implanted in certain nerves and muscles.

“Karin was the first person with below-elbow amputation who received this new concept of a highly integrated bionic hand that can be used independently and reliably in daily life,” explained Catalan.

“The fact that she has been able to use her prosthesis comfortably and effectively in daily activities for years is a promising testament to the potential life-changing capabilities of this novel technology for individuals facing limb loss”.

Catalan added that the “integrated surgical and engineering approach” also helped to reduce Karin’s level of pain, as she is now using many of the same neural resources to control the prosthetic that she did with her biological arm.

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