HealthCare Accessories' prosthetic staff is committed to providing the most technologically advanced upper extremity prosthetics. Myo comes from the Greek word meaning muscle. Electric refers to how the prosthesis is powered. An amputee uses their muscles to control movements of the prostheses that are powered by a battery source inside the device. Another advantage of myoelectric prosthetics is that they typically do not require any type of body harnessing like conventional prosthetics. Pyoelectric prosthetics can be fit on many different amputation levels but below elbow (BE) and above elbow (AE) are the most common.

Technology has recently advanced in prosthetics and some components (hands, wrists, and elbows) closely to mimic human dynamic movement. The Sensor Hand by Otto Bock (pictured below on the left without a cosmetic glove) can reach speeds up to 300mm/second when opening and closing. Twice the speed of other myoelectric hands (standard hands run at approximately 130mm/second). Not only is this prosthetic hand fast but it has an "auto grasp" feature that helps keep objects from falling out of the hand. Motion Control, the leading U.S. manufacturer of Myoelectrics, has a hand with a wrist that can be manually flexed and extend (pictured below on the right). The bottom line is that HealthCare Accessories is able to provide amputees with more options then ever before.

Above elbow prosthetics are also becoming more versatile. The Utah Arm (pictured on the right) and the Dynamic Arm are two prosthetic elbows on the cutting edge of technology. The third generation of the Utah Arm, which came out in 2004, allows the amputee to operate the prosthetic elbow and hand at the same time. Previously these types of biomechanical movements were incomprehensible. HealthCare Accessories has three Prosthetists trained and certified in fitting the Utah Arm. This expertise provides our customers with the highest quality of care available in the region.

The Dynamic Arm, which was released in 2006, has many unique benefits. It is extremely fast and is able to go from full extension to a flexed position in 0.5 seconds. This microprocessor-controlled arm is also able to statically hold up to 50 pounds making it ideal for more labor-intensive activities. To watch a video on the Dynamic Arm visit Otto Bock Healthcare's Web page and click on the 12K 100 Dynamic Arm Video at the bottom of the page.

For more info on myoelectric or other prosthetic needs, email us at prosthetics@meritcare.com.