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A DEVELOPMENT IN prosthesis by a north London hospital could mean radical improvements for amputees.
Trials are currently being held where an implant is attached directly to the skeleton of the person using it.
This new technology, known as ITAP (intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthesis) is expected to give those using prosthesis more control and a greater sense of comfort compared with those using traditional attachments.
Traditional prothesis typically use a ball-and-socket attachment where a socket is placed over the stump. This can cause irritation through rubbing.
The new process involves a metal implant being put into the bone of the stump. A prosthetic is then able to be attached to this implant.
The trial of the new attachments are being run in the Royal National Orthopedic hospital (RNOH) in London and the Royal Orthopedic hospital in Birmingham.
The ITAP is described by the RNOH as offering a level of comfort to users:
Over a period of months the implant will become integrated with the bone it has been inserted in to, ensuring a firm bond is formed. The implant used in ITAP is also specially designed to integrate firmly with the skin in the same way your gums stick tightly around your teeth.
So far, 16 patients have been operated on as part of the clinical trial, 12 in the RNOH, and four at the facility in Birmingham.
The trial is being done on patients that have had amputations between the knee and the hip. So far the preliminary results of the trial are described as having a ”transformational effect on the lives of some of the patients who have received it”.
Mark O’Leary from London was one of the first above-the-knee amputees to take part in the trial. Speaking to The Guardian O’Leary said:
It’s like they’ve given me my leg back. I know that sounds a bit trite. With this thing I just click the stump on in the morning and I can walk as far as I like, do anything I want within reason. There’s no limit.
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Is Michael Healy-Ray really that stupid ,,,,, Looks like the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree !!!!!
yes they are , and the very ones, that has there bread buttered by him , i heard , that these guys run, co, Kerry ,if your not with, them your out, and stay out ?. local Mafioso, i here say .big fish in small ponds .
How on earth did that amadan Healy Rae get elected , are people in constituency really that thick????
maybe we could put the dog into the dail instead of micheal.
As a farmer said to me ‘why should I indicate ,sure everybody knows where I’m going .’ The rural attitude to visitors/tourists is that they should deposit their money at the county boundary and not annoy the natives with demands for service, unspoilt countryside etc. It takes a Healy-Rae to actually come out and say this ; tell us more Michael.
Michael Healy Rae your ignorance knows absolutely no bounds!!
Michael Healy Rae is supported by the plain people of Kerry – crap goes in, crap comes out.
It’s bloody obvious Micheal Healy Rae is a man that can smell money a mile away. He must be doing a reality tv show soon and needs the cash for the phone and text votes. This is the Td who cut the grass of developers houses in my estate only last summer after he was elected. He even had his ‘vote no1′ stickers still on his van with his picture so there was no denying it was him. My ghost estate is in north cork so he drove a bit from Kerry to help the developer who is living it up in the uk!
I live in the country, and I know my way around. I have to say, country driving, particularly people over a certain age and in a certain profession, is shocking bad. No indicating, lucky if there’s one working brake light on the car. If a trailer is being towed, good luck. Then you can actually see the driver looking everywhere but the road. I usually have a rant about this a few times a week, when I’m stuck behind some numpty who doesn’t indicate, no brake light on the trailer, thinks road signs are just decorations for the roadside. And that Healy-Rae lad is a bigger numpty for questioning the need for road signs.
It says much for his chosen career that he is able to function as a member of the Dail, most of the political class see their job as being ” gettin in then gettin as much as they can ” this applies to most countries so we shouldn’t feel superior, but we do have a very good class of gobshites.
In a lot of rural areas, the local yooves tend to take great delight in turning the signs. And a turned sign is defintely worse than no sign at all! Many’s the time I’ve headed off in the wrong direction thanks to a bit of late-night shenanigans.
No money in signs as they are put in by the NRA also the bank hopes to “return to sustainable profitability by 2014.” by robbing the less well off..
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