Myoelectric Transhumeral Prosthesis

An artificial limb that detects muscle movement in the upper arm via specialized sensors and moves the prosthesis, including opening and closing the hand.

TECHNICAL DETAILS:

Myoelectric prostheses have motors and batteries on board to power the movement of the devices that are ultimately controlled by input from electrical signals generated by muscles in the residual limb. When muscles are contracted, they give off an electrical signal. In prosthetic devices, electrodes sitting on the skin inside the socket detect these muscle signals and send them to a controller, which triggers movement to correspond to what the user intends. When you want to close the hand, you squeeze your muscles that correspond to closing and the hand will close. Technologies now exist to make this even more intuitive for individuals to control multiple features in an arm such as grasping patterns in a hand, wrist rotators, elbows and even shoulders.