Artificial Digit Replacements for Women Veterans with Individual Digit Loss

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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.