Archives for 2007

I picked up my final socket for my i-Limb hand a week back, from Rich at Diablo O&P . He had lovingly created a carbon fiber socket with a blue fleck running through it based on the test socket he had made earlier.

We decided to move the electrodes up higher to try to resolve the issue, where, previously the holes in the liner were too low and let air in and so didn’t keep the socket secure on my stump. It was a bit tricky trying to work out where the holes should be cut in the liner (the liner costs $500 a pop, so don’t want to make a mistake), but we guesstimated as best we could and it seems to be working for now!

I’m starting to wear my new arm a little at a time, I have pretty good control of opening and closing the hand, although rotation is going to require a bit more work to master. It’s amazing how easy it is to control, I just contract the muscles I would normally use to open/close my hand, just in a more exaggerated motion. Rich did a great job creating the socket and dealing with the bulky battery. If I wear a long-sleeved top you really don’t notice it, the length and angle of the socket is perfect…I bet you’d probably not even notice my hand wasn’t real at first glance!

The socket is a little lighter than my test socket, but the overall prosthesis still weighs just under 3lbs, which will take a bit of getting use to. Also, the weight of the hand causes the socket to move around a little on my stump, since it isn’t secured above my elbow as would normally be the case for this type of device. This caused a blister the other day where the electrode touches the skin on one side…so still some teething issues to iron out.

Last week I picked up my test socket from Rich, at Diablo Prosthetics & Orthotics, fitted with the i-Limb hand. Since this is my first myo-electric hand we are still experimenting with the socket design and electrode placement, so it’s still early days.

The test socket Rich built is pretty cool, it’s clear plastic so you can see all of the wires and motor inside (the final socket will be carbon fiber). As well as the i-Limb hand we’re trying out an Otto Bock wrist rotator unit as well, this allows me to rotate the hand 360 degrees (that should freak people out over Halloween).

The socket has two electrodes inside that are in touch with my skin, these pick up the electrical activity when I contract my muscles. If I contract one muscle the hand opens, if I contract the other the hand closes. The speed of the hand is proportional to how hard I contract the muscle. If I contract both at the same time the wrist rotates instead, depending on which one I contract the hardest, the wrist rotates one way or the other…this will take a bit of practice as you can imagine!

The fingers/thumb on the hand are independently driven, each has it’s own motor. Sensors feedback the force exerted by each finger so, although my control is limited to opening/closing the hand, each finger moves independently allowing the hand to grasp irregular shaped objects. I can also rotate the thumb manually from the side of the hand to over the palm, thus changing the grip pattern from making a fist to grasping a bar, for example.

The whole thing is pretty heavy, at least to what I’ve been use to. It weighs 3lbs in total, about half is the hand and the other is the socket. Next week I’m going back to see Rich to change the position of the electrodes and see if we can get a better fit with the socket and liner. We’re trying to use a liner with a lock pin, as per my current arm. The challenge is we have to cut holes in the liner for the electrodes, this reduces the ability for the liner to keep the socket snug on my stump…this is an unusual approach for a myo arm, but if we can get it to work the benefit is the socket doesn’t restrict my elbow movement.

Dan Sorkin is the founder of the Stumps ‘R Us amputee support group. We came across Dan last year, a few months after I was back up and about after my accident. The Stumps group are a light-hearted, fairly irreverent bunch of amputees and as part of the group’s charter, Dan, (who lost his left leg in a motorcycle accident), takes members flying. He’s an avid pilot, and has been flying for over 50 years!

Kerry and I hadn’t had a chance to go flying with him and his wife Jodi, but finally at the end of last month we managed to get a day…and as it turned out, what a gorgeous day it was. We met Dan at Buchanan Field airport in Concord were a friend of his keeps their plan. The plan was to fly from there to San Francisco, over the Golden Gate bridge and down the coat to Half Moon Bay for lunch.

It was a lovely blue day, not too hot or cold and really clear. We jumped in the plane, I sat in the front with Dan, Kerry in the back with Jodi. Dan got clearance from the tower and off we flew. Flying over the Bay Area makes you realize just how beautiful it is, the views were wonderful as we flew at 4000′ over the hills toward San Francisco and then down the coast to Half Moon Bay. It was interesting to be back in the air again in a small craft, I haven’t been up in the air like this since my paragliding accident. I realised how much I missed the feeling and enjoyment of free flight.

We landed after a 30 min flight at Half Moon Bay airport, parked up and got out to walk to the Ketch Joanne restaurant…now this is the way to get around town! After fish & chips and fun discussions over lunch we headed back to the airport to fly home again. Dan kindly let me fly the plane over the Golden Gate bridge, right over the middle at about 1500′! Not something you get to do everyday.

All-in-all, a great day out and yet another benefit of being an amputee.

I’ve started the process to get an i-Limb hand from TouchBionics! This week I met with Dr. Suzy Kim at Kaiser in Martinez. I had been referred to her by my general doctor so I could make a case to get an i-Limb hand. I hadn’t met Dr. Kim before, so didn’t know what to expect. Suffice to say, I was suitably impressed. She was very open to hearing about the challenges I’ve had with my conventional, body-powered device and after an examination of my stump said she felt I would be a good candidate for a myo-electric device.

I showed her the data sheet on the i-Limb hand and she agreed that it could make quite a difference for me and agreed to put in a referral so I can get one…the process is underway! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Kaiser agree to pay for it.

Since I meet Stuart Mead, CEO of TouchBionics, earlier this year I have been able to get an i-Limb hand in advance of getting through the Kaiser approval process, so I contacted Rich Sire at Diablo Prosthetics & Orthotics to start the process of getting it fitted. The guys at TouchBionics and Rich have been great!

And the hand arrived this week. It comes in a heavy duty case, all sealed up, that contains the hand itself, cosmesis (the outer skin), battery & charger, instruction manuals and a cute, little toolkit.

So on Friday I met with Rich to start the process of fabricating a socket for the hand. The first step was to use a myo-electric tester to find the best sites for the electrodes. Once these had been identified Rich was able to mark up the test socket he’d built so he knew where they would need to be located.

The next job is to fabricate a full test socket that I can then really use to try out the hand before he makes a final carbon fiber one. If all goes well I should be up and running with in the next month!