Touch Bionics of Edinburgh, UK, has partnered with Oklahoma City-based Scott Sabolich Prosthetics & Research to provide upper extremity amputees with the first-ever hand with functional fingers which bend at two joints instead of only one. Each finger has its own motor allowing the finger to curl at two joints around an object as opposed to “pinching it”.  The thumb can be posed to accomplish numerous grasp patterns, i.e. key grip, fine pinch like picking up a grape, and a power grip like a fist.

Prior to the release of this hand, a myoelectric hand only used the thumb, index finger and middle finger grasped. Now all fingers grasp simultaneously.

“This is a precursor of next generation of upper extremity prostheses that may mimic the bionic arm received by Luke Skywalker in Star Wars,” reports Joel Schulz, CP, LP, upper extremity specialist for Scott Sabolich. “Cosmetically, the motion appears more real watching the hand open and close. Patient acceptance will increase due to the natural appearance and movement of the hand.”

Lindsay Block, below-elbow amputee since birth, is one of the first amputees to receive the new hand. She beamed with excitement watching the new hand open and close in tandem with her own hand.

“It’s cool how it can adjust to whatever it is grabbing on to. With my previous hand, I would often have to move my entire arm to try and grab on to an object of a certain shape, and you often had to really think about the kind of shape that you are trying to hold, was it round or too flat or too wide, and so on. With this new hand, you don’t have to strategize so much about what you do with it because you realize it’s not limited and will adjust depending on what it’s gripping on to.”

Video footage and photos available.

Contact: Emily Remmert, 405-841-6800 or 405-659-6333