Upper limb

Ramachandran begins his book with snippets of peculiar medical cases. The stories are fascinating because the brain is fragile, yet strong; damage to a particular part of the brain can lead to the expression of an odd behavior, yet the person can remain rational. Ramachandran (1998) expresses that these type of cases usually do not get much attention from doctors (i.e., neurologists and psychiatrists) and there has not been much investigation about the causes of their behaviors (p. 2). However,…

Visual Prosthesis: Selling a Dream to Visually Impaired (A literature review of advancements in the field of Visual Prosthesis) Abstract Visual prosthesis is by far the best bet to restore vision in a patient suffering with visual loss. This paper provides a literature review of the various technological advancements made over time and how these advancements have proved noteworthy in fields of visual prosthesis. To develop a basic understanding about the visual prosthesis, the anatomy and…

The Phantom Limb Phenomenon The phantom limb phenomenon is a known response that occurs following surgery in amputee patients. This response provides a vivid sensation that the amputated limb is still present and phantom limb pain is most commonly seen following the amputation of the arm or leg. The pain felt, may be related to physical or psychological factors, including the weather, or emotional stress, (Flor, 2002). Phantom limb is frequently apparent with physical pain, and this occurs in…

In all of Flannery O'Connor's short stories she has at least one protagonist who is diseased or has a disability. She writes about characters who reject God and individuals who are in need of grace. At a young age, she got diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, like her father. Nonetheless, she did not let this get in the way of her writing, and ultimately decided to base a handful of her characters and stories off of her experience in life and what she has seen. Rufus Johnson is a…

It continually floods social media, websites, and the news that teenagers are only capable of doing bad things. There are, however, a few, out of many, teenagers that say otherwise. Those teenagers are Zach Sobiech, Yash Gupta, and Easton LaChappelle. Zach Sobiech was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. This is a form of cancer. He was diagnosed in May of 2012. During this time of struggle, Zach turned to his friends, family, and guitar. Zach Sobiech began writing songs as a way to say goodbye to his…

Norman There are between 10 and 15 million amputees in the world. People who go through the hardship of losing a limb go through an incredible amount of pain each day. Not only this, but attempting to get a prosthetic limb that may allow them to function as they used to, is not only a difficult, costly process but it also does not lessen the emotional pain of having to live without a limb. With 3D Printing becoming an increasingly popular new technology, companies have begun to utilize 3D…

their limbs. A few hundred years ago, a hand amputee could only have a hook prosthesis with limited function and social stigma for the replacement of his hand. As the technology advances, hand amputees can now have the option for a hand transplant with bionic hands. Not only for the hand amputees, but also those with arms and legs amputated are able to have bionic prosthesis transplantation nowadays. The first hand transplant was performed in 1999, and the development of bionic prosthetic limbs…

We use our hands for touching, grabbing, holding, feeling, manipulating, and caressing. Whether we acknowledge it or not, our hands are constantly making precise movements to allow for things like writing, art, or even things that give us pleasure like sports. Our hands are also capable of heavy labor, things such as lifting heavy objects, digging, or even to hold things. We even use our hands while talking to help further express our selves (Smith 2006). Over 25,000 people each year in the US…

simple hooks and peg legs, many of these prosthetics were made to aid those wounded in battle or otherwise. The renaissance however was when we began to see real improvement and attempts at optimizing a more hand-like prosthetic for those missing limbs. However, as is still common today, the only ones to possess these hands were those who achieved them through wealth or fame. In “A Brief History of Prosthetics” by Kim Norton, she mentions a recording from around 1508 about a “Spanish navy…

pain signals to the brain even when the limb no longer exists (Virani 46). Again, this theory follows the generalization made at the beginning of this essay, furthering the idea that when a hardship is encountered, the brain tries to continue as before the occurrence. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, a neuroscientist well known for his contributions in the field of behavioral neurology as well as visual psychophysics, explains in “The Perception of Phantom Limbs” that “there are hints that the…