Prosthetic Limb Replacement Must Be Aided By Your Brain Sensation Area Feedback to Achieve Full Sensory Function
Call it what you will, but robotic science is making it possible for you to function as though you didn't lose part of your limb or the entire limb, and that's good news for you who have had limb injuries or lost limbs due to a disease. Innovative robotic science researchers say yes you can function as normally as you did before your limb loss after prosthetic limb replacement. However, they say such success must be facilitated by feedback from your brain sensation area.
Functioning Robotic Attachments Replace Hooks
If you've lost your entire hand in an accident or due to a disease, forget about wearing hooks to get on with your life. Robotic attachments are being manufactured to integrate with your mind once they are seamlessly attached. It's not The Jetsons space age science fiction. The technology is for real, and you will be able to have sensory feelings in the robotic limb due to the connection with your brain as did a 28-year-old limb replacement patient.
Subject Regained Nearly 100 Percent Of Sensory Feeling
Consider the case of a 28-year-old man whose hand was paralyzed. He reportedly is the first person to have regained an almost natural sense of touch through a robotic hand attachment that is directly connected to his brain. Pressure was applied to his hand by researchers following surgery, and the patient was able to identify which finger was touched. He did so with an almost perfect 100 percent accuracy.
As if to confirm his achievement, the research team then pressed two fingers without telling the subject. He is said to have laughingly kidded the scientists by inquiring whether they were planning to trick him by pressing two fingers.
How Does This Science Really Work?
A website article explains the science of how scientists are able to introduce sensory feelings to a robotic hand. Say for instance you've undergone a robotic hand attachment procedure. The robotic hand is equipped with torque sensors in each finger, which means the sensors are capable of detecting when pressure is applied to the robotic hand.
Connection Of Electrode Arrays To Your Sensory Cortex
Your robotic hand is connected by wires to electrode arrays implanted into your sensory cortex, which governs your brains sensation area. Your motor cortex is also involved in the sensory message exchange because it is responsible for your body's movement. All of that activity, the scientists explain, is aided by electrical signals that transmit the signals for touch sensation.
Researchers hope that their achievements will serve as a mission for other studies to be conducted in an attempt to arrive at 100 percent natural sensory feelings following robotic replacement limbs. The scientists maintain that signals from the brain hold the key to patients being able to regain full sensory feelings following limb replacement. They emphasize that only with brain feedback data can you as a patient expect to perform precise movements with robotic limb replacement.
To learn more, contact a company like Bayonet Point Health & Rehabilitation Center.