The first woman to have a biological arm

On September 14, Claudia Mitchell performed her biological prosthetic arm at a press conference in Washington DC. The 26-year-old Mitchell said ' today is not the best day, even though I have completed my mission. But today is a celebratory event '.

Remember, for the first time when Mitchell peeled bananas with one hand. She cried. The event occurred months after she lost her left arm in a motorcycle accident. In order to peel bananas, she used to use two legs to hold the banana and peeled her right hand. At that time, she felt like a monkey. Now she can peel bananas better and no longer like monkeys. She could hold the banana on her left hand and peel it with her right hand. Her machine's left arm held the banana neatly and her other hand started peeling it.

Mitchell, the girl who lives in the city of Elicott (USA) is the first woman in the world to be fitted with a biological arm, an arm that she can control easily by thinking. The biological arm is designed by engineers and doctors of the Chicago Rehabilitation Institute. The working principle of the biological arm is to stimulate the activity of the chest muscle connected by the nerves of the lost arm.

The biological arm has changed my life.
I can do everything I want. (Photo: Washington Post)

The Chicago Rehabilitation Institute is part of a US $ 50 million research project of the US Department of Defense Senior Projects Management Unit. The purpose of the study is to create more realistic prosthetic arms for the disabled. Mitchell hoped, she could upgrade her biological arm to make it feel more real and she was also ready for new experiments.

In the summer of 2005, orthopedic doctors took the first steps to transfer nerves in the left chest skin so that when the area received signals from the biological arm, the skin would send signals to the brain for control. arm. In the future, biological arms will perform more complex movements.

Not long ago, Mitchell spent a lot of time at the Chicago hospital trying out the first prototype, when it needed to connect signals from six motor nerve endings. Her current biological arm only needs three motor nerve endings. Theoretically, she could use that arm to keep things on top of her head. Having an artificial arm changed her life. Every day she uses it for cooking, laundry baskets, folding clothes and all other things.

Doctor, engineer Todd A. Kuiken, 46, said this is the latest progress in his research of artificial artificial arms that has lasted for 20 years . His lab costs $ 3 million for research and investment. More than 2 million of them are funded by the US National Institutes of Health. Based on the principle, smart cells are a characteristic point where nerve cells control functional muscles. Millions of nerve cells control the arms and hands like they have never been amputated. When a disabled person intends to ' lose ' arm movement, neurological signals will appear and be transmitted immediately to the spine, then from there to the nerve cells in the missing part.

The expert is instructing Mitchell to move his prosthetic arm.
(Photo: Chicago Tribune)

Neurons are huge 'electric networks' that are guided by tens of thousands of tiny fibers to classify information. Some are sensory nerves, some are nerves that send signals from the hands to the brain. Information is categorized by the brain, decoding like, feeling, temperature, weight or pain.

When handicapped people control the contraction fingers, the chest muscles will contract, the nerves there receive the signal and start the proper motor nerves. In the future, the electrodes on the hands will send signals through the arm to the chest skin, then the breast skin will transfer them to the brain, where they will be analyzed into sensations. The biological arm will open great steps in rehabilitation for the disabled.

Nguyen Vu