A History of Knowledge and Production in Powered Prosthetic Arms

This book presents a narrative history of the field of powered upper limbs, as well as providing an examination of how scientific research, innovation and design influenced the emergence of powered upper limbs from 1945 to present. The author focuses on the R&D and innovation practices that led to novel commercial products during the period.

This book presents a narrative and social science history of the powered upper-limb prosthesis. It examines how research, innovation and design changed in the prosthetics industry from 1945 to the present. A History of Knowledge and Production in Powered Prosthetic Arms opens with a history of artificial upper-limb making from ancient Egypt to 1945. It surveys the transition from early modern iron hands to eighteenth-century realistic-looking prostheses, influenced by the new ideas about rehabilitation, politeness, disability and aesthetic improvement. The book traces the evolution of these ideas as well as Enlightenment visions of scientific discovery of the body and its application in reproducing nature through technological progress. It shows the transition in the twentieth century from the craft design of upper limbs to university and clinic-based interdisciplinary methods in the production of new electric and gas prosthetic arms and hands. It contains case studies on commercial limbs developed at MIT, Ottobock, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of New Brunswick, Ontario Centre for Crippled Children, Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital and the University of Utah. The book will be of interest to undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty members and professionals interested in biomedical engineering, prosthetics, rehabilitation, occupational therapy and the history of science, technology, medicine and disability.