What’s State-of-the-Art With Upper-limb Prostheses?

By its nature, upper-limb prosthetic technology has an immediate impact on the user’s social circle because the devices are more visible and are actively used to manipulate objects; thus prosthetic goals range from more tool-like functional use to mimicking the appearance and movement of the human hand.

The clinical prosthetic goals are to provide protection and balance, encourage bimanual activity, allow incorporation into body image, minimize harnessing, maximize suspension, and maximize the number of grip options. This is provided by more pragmatic design specifications to mimic physiological hand speed and provide functional grip strength, precise and consistent positioning and control, sufficient component rigidity and durability, and maximum grip options and positions. Each of these goals provides unique challenges being addressed with new technologies and processes but may introduce their own design paradoxes.