Prosthetics, Their Future of Bio- Mechatronics and Their Eventual Aid to Society.
Prosthetics have been around for centuries; aiding injured and deformed people gain mobility and independence within their lives. The technologies of the prosthetics have developed greatly overtime, and continue to grow, so that the disadvantaged can almost live the life of an able bodied person. Scientists, doctors and inventors continue to forge the way of continual improvement of prosthetics. Now, mechanics are being successfully introduced, and seem as the long awaited key to replacement of limbs. Prosthetics have been paramount to the modernization of medicine and science, and continue to be at the forefront of medicinal inventions.
Scientists have been able to track prosthetics far into our history, with the earliest discovered prosthetic found at a necropolis at Themes west. The mummified woman is believed to be 3000 years old, and the prosthesis (a toe) was a delicately carved, brown painted wooden stump. This was attached to the foot via plates and wrapped bandages and allowed the woman to walk, maintaining mobility. With the development of medicine, and the discovery of amputation, the need of prosthetics grew, and doctors and scientist alike developed now crude, innovative prototypes. Dr Ambroise Pare, 1829, a leader in medicinal amputation, began the scientific development of high tech prosthetics. However, it was not until 1975, til Ysidro M. Martinez, an amputee himself, developed a prosthesis that would not aim to resemble a human limb, but improve the gait and mobility of the amputee. This was a major turning point in the development of prosthetics. They were no longer viewed as ‘stumps’ out of readily available, heavy, unsuitable materials, but a scientific aid to the disadvantaged of society.
Original prosthetics range in artificial devices, all aiming to recreate the use of lost limbs, either through accident, disease, birth defects or from a traumatic event. There are numerous prosthetics, for numerous types of missing limbs. They range
Scientists have been able to track prosthetics far into our history, with the earliest discovered prosthetic found at a necropolis at Themes west. The mummified woman is believed to be 3000 years old, and the prosthesis (a toe) was a delicately carved, brown painted wooden stump. This was attached to the foot via plates and wrapped bandages and allowed the woman to walk, maintaining mobility. With the development of medicine, and the discovery of amputation, the need of prosthetics grew, and doctors and scientist alike developed now crude, innovative prototypes. Dr Ambroise Pare, 1829, a leader in medicinal amputation, began the scientific development of high tech prosthetics. However, it was not until 1975, til Ysidro M. Martinez, an amputee himself, developed a prosthesis that would not aim to resemble a human limb, but improve the gait and mobility of the amputee. This was a major turning point in the development of prosthetics. They were no longer viewed as ‘stumps’ out of readily available, heavy, unsuitable materials, but a scientific aid to the disadvantaged of society.
Original prosthetics range in artificial devices, all aiming to recreate the use of lost limbs, either through accident, disease, birth defects or from a traumatic event. There are numerous prosthetics, for numerous types of missing limbs. They range