US Soldiers Get Latest Prosthetic Technology

Research into prosthetics has lagged behind other medical research. The relatively low number of patients needing them doesn't create near the demand that other research areas, such as cancer, do. Recently, the US Military has stepped up the plate in order to meet the needs of its wounded soliders.

The War on Terror has created a higher demand for quality prosthetics. "Since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 370 U.S. soldiers have had amputations."

In 2005 the Department of Veterans Affairs budgeted $7.2 million to create the Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine at the VA Medical Center in Providence, Rhode Island. This year the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ... began funding two prosthetics projects for $48.5 million ...

It has been said that the necessary coordination and research to create the ultimate prosthetic, one that interacts with the brain, is like the Manhattan Project. Such a prosthesis, "will need additional sensors to gather information on speed, angle, gait and balance."

Current technology can read muscle control signals, but this requires huge amounts of concentration on the part of the wearer. Lower body prosthetics, which are by far the most common, are even harder to control. Some sense the shift of body weight and then command the leg to move. However, none of these solutions give the brain feedback. They are also bulky and sometimes painful.

Unfortuanately, we don't have the technology to develop a proper prosthetic.We still have to solve problems of how to attach it to the body, how to read from the brain, how to send data back to the brain, how to power it, and what materials to build it from.

The six part Popular Science article is a great read for anyone who wants to know the current state of the art.