Ӧssur makes giant leap in bionic prosthetic limb development
New bionic prosthetic limbs, controlled by a person’s thoughts alone have been invented by scientists in Iceland.
The bionic limbs, developed by global leader in non-invasive orthopaedics, Ӧssur, are that good; two patients are already trialling the technology.
The company, headquartered in Reykjavik, have been secretly testing subjects with their latest version of the Proprio Foot for the last year and this week announced they are taking their invention to a larger scale with more human trials.
The world first technology involves surgically implanting 5 mm by 3mm Myoelectric Sensors (IMES) into a person’s residual muscle tissue to measure and interpret the signals travelling between its nerve-endings and the brain.
The Implanted Myoelectric Sensors were provided by the United States based Alfred Mann Foundation, which develops medical technology for use in patients.
The most recent adaptation of the Proprio Foot allows for both conscious and unconscious control of the artificial limb.
A connected receiver triggers leg movement, and the process is so streamlined, it allows a patient to perform actions subconsciously.
The new technology doesn’t require muscle tissue to be transplanted from another part of the body in the affected area, making it different from similar mind-controlled prosthetics.
This technique however requires intensive mental training by the patient to allow their brain to get used to their muscle tissue functioning in a completely different region of the body.
The two amputees are expected to be the first world-wide to be able to control their lower-limb prostheses subconsciously, and the new technology allows their experience with their prosthesis to become more intuitive and integrative.
Gummi Olafsson, one of the two patient’s trialling the new implants lost his right foot and lower leg years after a childhood traffic accident.
He said: “As soon as I put my foot on, it took me about 10 minutes to get control of it.
“I could stand up and just walk away, come back, sit down and use my muscles to move my foot in the position I wanted to use it.
“I was moving it with my muscles, there was nobody else doing it, the foot was not doing it, I was doing it, so it was really strange and overwhelming.”
Olafsson’s body continues to adapt to his prosthetic limb every day, increasing the control he has over the new technology.
The method is already used with great success on upper limbs and artificial hands, but until now has been less successful with lower limbs.
The ultimate goal for Ӧssur is to replace the function of the lost limb with the system anticipated to be on the market within the next three to five years.