A 'rewired' woman fitted with a 'bionic arm', which is controlled by thought, has experienced sensations in her missing hand, a landmark development that offers hope of new improvements in prosthetics. Claudia Mitchell, nicknamed 'Bionic Woman', was fitted with the limb in 2006 after losing her arm in a motorcycle crash in 2004.
Now when Mitchell thinks 'Move', her chest muscle lets out tiny electrical impulses that are picked up by the robotic arm.These signals are interpreted by a computer and motors cause the arm to move almost instantly, the Daily Telegraph newspaper said on Thursday.
The report said four months after the operation, Mitchell was in the shower and 'felt' hot water on her lost hand when it hit her chest, where the nerves have been transplanted. The woman marine also found that touching her chest or applying heat and cold to it would give her the sensation of pressure, warmth or coolness in her missing hand.
Mitchell experienced the sensations because doctors moved sensory as well as motor nerves from her shoulder to chest, believe scientists, who developed the new procedure at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. 'We have rewired her,' Dr Todd Kuiken of the Institute said, adding 'We purposely directed her hand sensation nerves on to some chest skin, and it worked.'
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