A preliminary study of a surgical technique in the January 2012 issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery concludes that targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) is technically feasible for individuals with transfemoral amputations.
For the study, the researchers dissected five lower limbs and documented the locations of motor points for 13 of the thigh muscles. The average number of motor points per muscle were as follows: sartorius, 4.75; rectus femoris, 3.25; vastus lateralis, 4.5; vastus intermedius, 4.5; vastus medialis, 4; adductor brevis, 2.3; adductor longus, 3; adductor magnus, 2.7; gracilis, 3; semitendinosus, 1.5; semimembranosus, 2.5; biceps femoris long head, 2.75; and biceps femoris short head, 1.
Documenting these motor points, and establishing the feasibility of TMR for individuals with transfemoral amputations could lead to new technologies that would allow users to have intuitive control over their prostheses, as has been achieved for individuals with upper-limb amputations.
