Federal Funding to Help Develop Bionic Limb Technology

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by Shanita Bigelow

Senator Dick Durbin recently announced the U.S. Senate approval of $52 million in federal funds for defense projects and facilities in Illinois. More than ten Illinois defense related projects received a share of the $52 million. Along with Columbia College Chicagos Construct Program, which will develop computer simulations for military training, a number of other entities including the Illinois Army National Guard MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) Vehicle Virtual Trainers program; the Loyola University Medical Center Burn and Shock Trauma Institute and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) were granted between $2 million and $8 million.

The number one rehabilitation hospital in the nation, RIC, secured $2.5 million to aid in the development of technology for bionic limbs.

Prosthetic technology has a long and varied history, according to the University of Iowa Health Cares Medical Museum: from a copper and wooden leg dating back to 300 BCE, found in Italy, and iron limbs welded for soldiers in the 15th and 16th centuries, to lightweight, plastic limbs developed after World War II.

While the science of prosthetic legs has garnered much success (battery powered knees, etc.), artificial arms and hands have not, at least, not until more recent innovations. RICs Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs (NECAL) is currently working with techniques called targeted reinnervation (TMR), so as to expand the range and complexity of motion of artificial limbs, and sensory reinnervation, which would allow patients a renewed sense of touch.

Jesse Sullivan, former high power electric lineman, lost both arms after being electrocuted in May 2001. Four years later he was able to pick up a cup, mow his lawn, go fishing and hug his grandson, according to RIC.

Since Sullivan, about 30 people, eight of which were soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, have undergone the procedure, according to the New York Times.

With these bionic arms, amputees are able to think of action and do it. Nerves from the amputee are attached to a healthy muscle, usually in the chest or upper arm, allowing them to move the prosthetic limb as if it were real. While prosthetic limbs have certainly come a long way, there is still much research and development to be done.

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