Jan 10, 2009 1:29 pm US/Eastern
Bionic Hand Changing Hundreds Of Lives
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
A woman's life has drastically changed because of a new medical device known as the bionic hand, CBS station KCBS-TV reported.
When Telisa Boston was 16, she lost her forearm due to a rare tumor.
"I very clearly remember, as if it were yesterday, I remember thinking how is it going to feel to not have an arm anymore?" Boston said.
For almost twenty years, Boston has been using prosthetic arms with little or no function.
That all changed when she got an i-LIMB made by Touch Bionics. The hand amplifies signal sent from the brain to muscles by using a computer. Five-individually powered digits all move on their own, allowing wearers to do things most of us take for granted.
Chief Prosthetist Randal Alley explains that the hand takes signals that are produced naturally by the muscles when you tighten them. It then amplifies that signal by sending it to a computer in the hand, which operates the prosthesis.
When Boston first lost her arm in her teens, she said she was more concerned about cosmetics. Now that she is 35 and newly married, she says she's thinking about other things, like having a baby.
Soon, Boston will get a custom cover for her hand that will match her skin tone perfectly.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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