Artificial Digit Replacements for Women Veterans with Individual Digit Loss

最大的上肢截肢者是那些手部分截肢的人。这群人 比所有其他水平的上肢截肢者多出10倍。因此，重大的临床影响可能 如果一种产品有效地服务于这一人群，就可以生产。退伍军人上肢截肢的护理 需要一种高度个性化的医学方法。每位退伍军人都为诊所带来了独特的演示文稿 包括截肢程度、生活方式、个人经历和其他医学指标。他们往往是 高度活跃的人，需要假肢来跟上他们的日常生活。 修复师和职业治疗师与每位退伍军人合作，提供个性化的医疗解决方案 公开市场上可用的组件和技术。通常，返回优化功能受到以下因素的限制 市场上可用的解决方案，它们提供的耐用性、功能或组合不足。至 让这个问题雪上加霜的是，市场上没有一款假指的大小适合所有女性 手的大小。因此，某些手部分截肢的女退伍军人无法获得 满足他们需求的假体。 到目前为止，退伍军人管理局生物机电开发实验室(BDL)已经开发出一种棘轮式假肢， 点数字，现在商业上可以用于部分手部假肢。通过我们的先天功绩 奖[1I01RX002830]，我们成功地重新设计并制作了这项技术的原型-女性数字 允许它的大小适合5%的女性，同时保持行业领先的力量与体重比率和 新颖的棘轮机构。 退伍军人管理局生物机电开发实验室的使命是创新设备和算法 上肢假肢设计领域。对于这个项目，BDL将完成一个假体解决方案，将满足 女性退伍军人的独特需求，并响应退伍军人事务部和退伍军人事务部征求建议书(RFP)的要求 开发女性退伍军人专用假体部件。我们将在以前工作的基础上，最终确定和 把这个装置搬到场上。我们将：1)通过迭代拟合和测试 女指和2)对佩戴女指的退伍军人进行带回家的试验，以评估 设备效能。我们的目标是为女退伍军人提供有效的解决方案，确保她们有能力享受 充分发挥工作和家庭生活的作用。

The largest population of upper limb amputees are those with partial hand amputations. This population outnumbers all other levels of upper limb amputees by a factor of 10. Therefore, a significant clinical impact can be made if a product serves this population effectively. The care of Veterans with upper limb amputations requires a highly individualized approach to medicine. Each Veteran brings a unique presentation to the clinic including levels of amputation, lifestyles, personal experience, and other medical indicators. They tend to be highly active individuals with the need for a prosthesis to keep up with their daily life. Prosthetists and occupational therapists work with each Veteran to provide a personalized medical solution using available components and technologies on the open market. Often, a return to optimized function is limited by the solutions available on the market, which provide insufficient durability, function, or a combination. To compound this issue, no commercially available prosthetic finger is appropriately sized for the full range of female hand sizes. Consequently, certain women Veterans with partial hand amputations are unable to obtain a prosthesis that meets their needs. To date, the VA Biomechatronics Development Laboratory (BDL) has developed a ratcheting prosthetic digit, the Point Digit, that is now commercially available for use in partial hand prostheses. Through our prior Merit Award [1I01RX002830], we successfully redesigned and prototyped this technology – the Women’s Digit – to permit it to be sized for a 5th percentile female while maintaining an industry leading strength to weight ratio and novel ratcheting mechanism. The mission of the VA Biomechatronics Development Laboratory is to innovate devices and algorithms in the field of upper limb prosthetic design. For this project, the BDL will complete a prosthetic solution that will meet the unique needs of women Veterans and be responsive to the VA RR&D Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop female Veteran specific prosthetic components. We will build upon our previous work to finalize and translate this device to the field. We will: 1) finalize development through iterative fitting and testing of the Women’s Digit and 2) conduct a take-home trial of women Veterans fitted with the Women’s Digit to assess device efficacy. Our goal is to provide an effective solution for women Veterans to ensure their ability to enjoy work and home life to the fullest.