COVER STORY | BIONICS
wear shorts all the time and don’t
get any abuse.
“These days prosthetic designs
look much better and all my nieces
and nephews think I’m bionic!”
Danny admits being terrified at how
Joshua is going to react to his new
hand. “He loves my prosthetic legs.
He gets all excited and laughs when
I put them on and likes to touch
them.”
Danny has two hopes for his new
hand; he wants to make the bond
stronger between him and his son
and, importantly, wants to increase
the publicity for the hand itself.
“This technology should be
offered to everyone. This is lifechanging,
not only for the obvious
physical side but mentally as well.
People who lose limbs can get very
“I wanted to
get a Hero Arm a few
years ago, but I decided at
the time that I managed ok.
But then, when I had my
little boy, I realised there
was a lot I couldn’t do, and
that led me to actually
depressed, struggling
with the ongoing pain
and mourning the life
they had before. They
can even contemplate
suicide. This hand has
such huge benefits, it
should be available on the
National Health Service and
I want to help the cause to make
that happen.”
Danny had a socket fitting
in November. The suitability of
myoelectric control is determined
by the fit between the stump and
the prosthetic. Danny was surprised
when he tried the arm for the first
time, as he was able to work it
straight away, even though it was
using muscles that he hadn’t used for
21 years.
Danny said “I’ve been very
excited and it’s better than I
imagined. Seeing the arm, you get
an overwhelming sense when you
first see it. I then got to try it on and,
like magic, I got it to work pretty
much straight away. It’s amazing.
It’s very smart. Previously I’ve had
a very ugly static hand, and this is a
very nice-looking hand.”
As well as being nice-looking,
the hand offers a range of features
and functionality. These include a
posable wrist that can be rotated
through 180 degrees; a posable
thumb capable of picking up tiny
objects; multiple easy-to-select
grips giving great user control
that can be reconfigured to the
user’s preferences by their
prosthetist; and a freeze
mode that allows the hand to
be held in a static position
for no fuss, reliable grip
such as when holding a
glass.
Proportional control of
the speed of the fingers
allows for delicate tasks
such as picking up an egg,
while the arm’s long battery
life gives all-day usage without
needing to plug in and charge.
Bionic arms such as the Hero
Arm work by picking up myoelectric
signals from a user’s muscles.
When a user puts on their bionic
arm and flexes muscles in their
residual limb just below their
elbow; special sensors detect tiny
naturally generated electric signals
and convert these into intuitive and
proportional bionic hand movement.
The Arm has up to six different grips,
and these are grouped in pairs to
make switching between them quick
and easy.
Danny explains “I wanted to
get a Hero Arm a few years ago,
but I decided at the time that I
managed OK. But then, when I had
my little boy, I realised there was
a lot I couldn’t do, and that led me
to actually do something about it. I
started a Go Fund Me page. Many,
many companies raised money -
and many individuals - and for that,
I’m always going to be grateful.
Eventually, maxon got in touch and
advised that they were going to
sponsor it. That call was surreal. I’ll
never forget it.” !
do something
about it”
12 WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK | MARCH 2020
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