Artificial Digit Replacements for Women Veterans with Individual Digit Loss

最大的上肢截肢者是那些部分手截肢的人。该人群 比其他级别的上肢截肢者多10倍。因此，显著的临床影响可以 如果一种产品能有效地服务于这一人群，上肢截肢退伍军人的护理 需要高度个体化的治疗方法每个退伍军人带来一个独特的介绍诊所 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， 在开放市场上的可用组件和技术。通常，返回到优化功能受到以下因素的限制： 市场上可获得的解决方案，其提供的耐久性、功能或组合不足。到 使这个问题复杂化的是，没有商业上可获得的假肢手指的尺寸适合于全范围的女性。 手的大小。因此，部分手部截肢的女性退伍军人无法获得 满足他们需求的假肢。 到目前为止，VA生物机电开发实验室（BDL）已经开发出一种棘轮假肢， Point Digit，现在市场上可买到，用于部分手部假肢。通过我们先前的功绩 奖[1 I 01 RX 002830]，我们成功地重新设计和原型这项技术-妇女的数字- 允许其尺寸适合第5百分位女性，同时保持行业领先的强度重量比， 新型棘轮机构。 VA生物机械电子学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将完成一个假肢解决方案， 女性退伍军人的独特需求，并响应VA RR&D提案请求（RFP）， 开发女性退伍军人专用假肢组件。我们将在以往工作的基础上， 把这个装置转移到现场我们将：1）通过迭代拟合和测试 妇女的数字和2）进行带回家的试验，妇女退伍军人配备了妇女的数字，以评估 器械功效。我们的目标是为女性退伍军人提供有效的解决方案，以确保他们能够享受 工作和家庭生活都很充实。

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.