Recent Advances in the Treatment of Limb Loss

There have been some very positive advancements in medical science for amputees requiring a prothesis. Today, we wanted to share that information with you. For all other questions about amputations and limb loss injuries, contact Silverman, McDonald & Friedman in Newark, Wilmington, or Seaford today.

Researchers are constantly trying to develop new prosthetic arms, legs, and other prosthetics to improve how a victim functions on a daily basis and to generally improve the victim’s quality of life. In one story reported by Good News Network, scientist are working on helping amputees “’merge’ with their bionic prosthetic legs so they can use and feel their the limb as if it’s a part of their own body.”

These bionic legs are being developed by a consortium of European scientists. Their study was recently reported in Science Translational Medicine. The Good News Network report focused on how three amputees are responding to the new prosthetics. The prosthetics are significant because of their ability to help amputees with above-the-knee amputations through sensory feedback. Most prosthetics are designed for below-the-knew amputations.

Good News stated that “The amputees were able to climb over various obstacles without having to look thanks to sensory feedback from the prosthetic leg that is delivered to nerves in the leg’s stump.” One amputee, who lost his leg after a motorbike accident, said “After all of these years, I could feel my leg and my foot again, as if it were my own leg.”

The three amputees were participants in a three-month clinical study which uses neuro-engineering to hopefully solve an incredibly disabling condition that “affects more than 4 million people in Europe and in the United States.”

“Specifically, the bionic leg prototype is equipped with 7 sensors all along the sole of the foot and 1 encoder at the knee that detects the angle of flexion. These sensors generate information about touch and movement from the prosthesis. Next, the raw signals are engineered via a smart algorithm into biosignals which are delivered into the stump’s nervous system, into the tibial nerve via intraneural electrodes, and these signals reach the brain for interpretation.”

The results of the study complement another study showing that bionic technology can help reduce phantom limb pain and tiredness.

Workers’ compensation and personal injury claims for limb loss

Losing an arm, leg, hand, foot, finger, or toe is a horrific result of any accident. Aside from the pain, victims will almost certainly have to undergo a number of medical procedures (including surgery). After surgery, victims often suffer phantom pain in addition to the pain at the site of the separation. Most victims need psychological counseling to cope with the how changing a limb changes their appearance, their ability to work, their ability to have relationships, and their ability to perform every-day tasks.

If the loss of limb occurs at work, the employee is generally entitled to temporary disability until the medical treatment has reached the point where no additional treatments will improve the worker’s health. At that point, a determination is made whether the loss of the limb or body part qualifies the victim for permanent disability payments. Employers are required to cover all reasonable medical care including the cost of prosthetics, occupational therapy, and medications.

If a victim loses an arm, leg, or other body part due to a car accident, a product defect, or for any other reason, the responsible parties should be held accountable. Accountability means payment for the all reasonable medical bills the victim has, their physical pain and emotional suffering, the full amount of all the victim’s income losses, and the loss of functionality of the limb or body part.

At Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, we understand how devastating the loss of a limb or body part can be. In both workers’ compensation and personal injury, one of our many goals is to help you obtain settlements and verdicts that pay for the prosthetics that can best help you lead as normal as life as possible. Our Delaware loss of limb attorneys have over 100 years of combined experience helping accident victims. To talk with an experienced trial lawyer, call us now at 302-888-2900 or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation. We have offices in Wilmington, Newark, or Seaford.