Thank you to everyone who responded! The following is my original message
with the responses after.
Does anyone have any experience with the X-Fingers or the Naked Prosthetic
Fingers. I’m wondering how durable each is. My patient is a carpenter and
he’s hoping to go back to work. This will give you an idea of just how
durable they need to be.
——————————————————————
Hi Desiree, I have done an X-Finger in the past and it was durable enough to
offer a mild prehension but I would say certainly not durable enough to
think about putting it to work at all in that type of demanding environment.
Looked great, functioned well but certainly not a strong device in my
opinion.
It is very durable one of my auto mechanic guy is using Naked prostheses for
3 years with no problem.
I can only speak of X-fingers. Stay away from them. I have tried twice and
they did not work. They are flimsy and the service is terrible. They are so
dodgy that you don’t even know if the company will deliver your device as
promised. After a whole year, my client did not get a useful device. The
company promised to give some credit so we could try something else but the
owner eventually never paid back so my client was at a loss.
I believe someone had compiled feedback on list serve once on X fingers
(Dederick Medical). You likely will be able to retrieve the responses if you
search
I’ve fit the x finger for a police officer and it was not very durable. The
metal can be bent by hand so I wouldn’t suggest it for heavy duty use. He
wound up not using it for work and only wears it for basic functional ADL
use.
I delivered 2 Naked Prosthetic fingers about a month ago to a logger. He
loves the grip for daily use, turning keys, dressing, opening doors, holding
hand and power tools and throwing balls with the kids. He does use his
fingers at work sometimes with the chainsaws and tools. Sometimes wears
gloves, sometimes not. He too is concerned with the durability in the work
environment with grit, grime, water and heavy tools. The company recommends
maybe not for these activities but so far no problems with the fingers. I
don’t know for long term use logging. He is most certainly pleased with
function for ADLs.
I ordered the Naked Prosthetic fingers for a paramedic patient of mine who
was missing his 2nd and 3rd digits from PIP down. Now this might be only my
experience, but the cost of the item compared to what you get seems
exorbitant. We were under the impression he would be getting two separate
devices that held onto his fingers via suction, and ended up with a WHO
driver-type device that looked like it was pulled off the shelf and
assembled. Also, it took well over 7 months for us to receive them and was
consistently given the run-around as to why they were taking so long. I
finally had to start documenting in the patients record what was told to me
when I called in to check the status as I regularly got excuses like
“they’re in design” a week after I was told “they’re being stamped with the
serial number”. Once we finally did get them here, the fit was off and
bruised his MCP joints rather quickly, not to mention the whole point of
them was to get him back to work and there was minimal resistance in
opposition. He was barely able to hold a grip on a pen, and required a lot
of effort on his part (which lead to the bruising).
Again, this might just be my experience, but I think you are very wise to
ask to O&P community about these devices prior to ordering them. I’m curious
to see if I’m the only one who had all of these issues, or if its more of a
regular thing.
Desiree Marcus
Body In Motion Sports & Orthopaedics
Phone: 732-244-8700
Fax: 732-244-8569
“Compassionate Care From Compassionate People”
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