Myoelectric Safety and Options

[wantstoplayviolin]

I have a 10-year old daughter who is lower left forearm, wrist and hand deficient. She is a congenital amputee. She had a consult and was deemed an excellent candidate for a myoelectric because of her full nerve and muscle functionality in her left stump. Out of pocket expenses have prevented obtaining a myoelectric and her short ulna makes her not a good candidate for body powered options.

I have so many questions....1) Where do I even start? 2) What information does a firm need to get started on evaluating our options? 3) Would a myoeletric made from a 3-D printer be safe since it has battery power and electronics inside? 4) Do medical staff or advanced engineers oversee the treatment?

I'll gladly provide photos but prefer not to do so on a public forum. Any guidance would be appreciated!

[Geoff]

Hi,

I haven't made a full prosthetic before, but I have the ability to, the cost is so minimal to print things I wouldn't charge you to be honest, the only issue with them of course is they need to be constantly updated for a growing body, which I'd be happy to help with but yeah getting your own printer at some point might be a good investment down the track. You could set it up, I email you the file and you print it out 5 minutes later.

As far as medical people overseeing it, I wouldn't imagine so (don't quote me, just going off what i've seen others doing similar, doctors don't really seem to be involved much in the videos) nothing is really intrusive -we are talking small electrodes that sense muscle movement that move a servo motor, and now with flexible filament you can create much more comfortable sleeve for it, sure not as good as silicone but a worthy substitute.

Myolectric is a little more complicated, i'm into robotics too so I'd even be up for designing a new type or at least trying to help The cost for something like that would just be down to electronic components, which you would have the freedom to source yourself, not foot an expensive bill.


Thingiverse also has some great manual operation hands, some of them seem to work exceptionally well

http://www.thingiverse.com/search/pa...prosthetic&sa=