Partial hand amputees benefit from i-LIMB technology

Technology that enables an amputee with a prosthetic hand to move individual digits is also being used for those who've lost individual fingers.

Touch Bionics Inc. says its ProDigits product is the first powered digit system available.

"We're able to take our i-LIMB technology and apply that capability to partial hand patients," said Mark Ford, vice president of global sales and marketing for Touch Bionics. "That has really come into play within the workers' comp system."

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Ford says for all the workers who lose a hand, there are many more who lose fingers.

"We're able to give those patients fine motor skills to pick up M&Ms, bottles of water, type on a computer," he said. "We have patients who, in their spare time, knit and crochet and use our system for folding clothes, folding towels, basic maid type work. None of that was available until this technology came along."

August 22, 2011

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