In recent
years there have been numerous advances in the field of prosthetics. Targeted
reinnervation is a newly developed surgical procedure used to improve the motor
control and sensation of the affected limb.
In this
procedure, the residual nerves from the amputated extremity are identified and
transferred to new “targets” that have otherwise lost their function. These
newly innervated muscles and targets are then used as amplifiers
for the amputated nerves in order to restore the functional loss.
Use of these
newly innervated muscles or at times even only parts of muscles (two heads of
pectoralis after a forequarter amputation) would allow a more innate control of
the bio-prosthetics.This will not only allow the new muscle contractions to be
sensed and used to control prosthesis, it will also enable the overlying skin
to have protective sensation.
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