“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.”
When The Six Million Dollar Man – revolving around a man whose right arm, left eye and both legs were replaced by bionic implants – hit the airwaves in the 1970s, it was billed as science fiction. But some facets of it are getting less fictional every day.
Today, arms and legs are readily replaced bionically. And Second Sight Medical Products Inc. is currently in trials to find a working prosthetic eye, which would make all of Steve Austin’s scientific enhancements possible.
In fact, some of the opportunities and advancements available right now – or, at least, in a few years – would even make Steve Austin look antique.
Anthony Torres, a fitness enthusiast and Mifflin Township firefighter, has a prosthetic foot made by Freedom Innovations and retains a high activity level.
“I competed in a Crossfit competition at the Arnold (Sports Festival) and felt invincible,” says Torres. “I love doing physical sports and love being active.”
As the number of amputees grows, the world of prosthetics has expanded with it, says Dr. Scott Van Aman, an orthopedic surgeon with Orthopedic ONE. Complications from diabetes make up the No. 1 cause of amputations, usually part of the foot or leg, Van Aman says.
“The number of diabetics in the U.S. and world continues to grow rapidly, forcing more attention on the issue,” he says. “The trend toward value-based health care in the U.S. also affects prosthetic care, as we need to carefully match patient function with the surgeries and prosthetics they receive to ensure proper balance of need and resources.”
So what spurred all this advancement? Van Aman says it has a lot to do with war.
“War tends to spur research on amputation. As military protective gear has evolved, more injuries are nonfatal and affect the limbs rather than major organs. This results in a large population of young, otherwise healthy veterans in need of prosthetic technology that facilitates their return to society,” he says. “Many technical advances in prosthetics have evolved from World War II, Vietnam and the more recent Middle East conflicts.”
One recent major breakthrough was the creation of a thought-controlled limb. According to an article in Wired magazine, scientists have made a limb that is operated on a direct line from the recipient’s brain and moves seamlessly with the body.
Another big step: a myoelectric prosthesis, an upper-body bionic implant sometimes known as an “i-limb.” The device uses electrical sensors to detect tiny muscular movements in the residual limb, which are then translated by an on-board computer into natural, intuitive movement of the mechanized hand.
As impactful as these two inventions are, they may just be the tip of the iceberg, Van Aman says.
“In the near future, I think we will continue to see more technological advances with computerized prostheses that are more integrated with the human body and more closely mimic normal function,” he says. “Carbon fiber blade feet allow significant return of energy in running and have allowed amputees to compete at the highest levels with able-bodied athletes. There has also been recent work on osteo-integration of prosthetics, allowing direct attachment of the artificial limb to bone.”
For Torres, the experience has been up-and-down, one rife with frustration and hope, since a motorcycle crash cost him his foot in 2012. Because each amputee faces different issues, it can be difficult to get advice and, sometimes, even treatment, he says.
Some days, when the prosthesis is fitting well and skin issues are not a problem, it can be little more than an inconvenience, he says. But when things aren’t working well, or are causing pain or other issues, everything is a struggle.
Still, his new limb gives him hope for the future and gratitude for the opportunities he’s received, Torres says, particularly now that he has a daughter who celebrated her first birthday over the summer.
“I often wonder how things would be with my daughter if I were not an amputee,” he says. “When she was a newborn, I would have to put my leg on in the middle of the night to go check on her.”
He’s still working for the Mifflin Township Fire Department, and though his work now presents new challenges, he’s glad technology has allowed him to return to full duty with no restrictions.
“That was the main reason I elected to have my amputation: to be a firefighter again,” says Torres.
David Allen is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
