Proposal

Prosthetic limbs are the future of humans. People have always made innovations in order to make our lives easier. These innovations don’t only make them easier, but they also increase the life expectancy for us. I believe that prosthetic limbs will become the future for humanity. They will become more common, widespread, and affordable. They will also open the gate for more technology to be implanted within us, as a way to upgrade the quality of life, along with increasing information literacy. Millions of people already make use of prosthetics and body alterations around the world, and it will eventually reach everyone, including those without amputations. 

Annotated Bibliography

Revell, Peter. Joint Replacement Technology (Woodhead Publishing Series in Biomaterials). 2nd ed., e-book, Cambridge, England ; Waltham, Massachusetts, Woodhead Publishing, 2014.

Within this book, Revell discusses the already existing practice of joint replacement technology. Throughout the hundreds of pages in this book, we learn every detail on this topic, from how the technology is made/where it can be applied, along with results of the use of this technology.  They cover each major joint within the body and explain how it’s done. The author’s sources and references come from a plethora of books and articles on the section’s topic. This 700-page book is the ultimate compilation of the matter. The only limitation to this book is its length, however, this is partially made up for by the fact that it is divided up into different sections like a textbook. Their goal is to make joint replacement more common and affordable for people who experience joint pain, such as elders. This would be of great use to my research topic as it relates to prosthetic limbs. Both prosthetic limbs and replaced joints have the same goal that is desired to achieve. There is a lot of information packed into this book, allowing me to have a better understanding of how complex the idea of replacing outdated body parts is. This book was also found through the New Paltz database.

 

 Lum, Peter S., et al. “Internal Models of Upper Limb Prosthesis Users When Grasping and Lifting a Fragile Object with Their Prosthetic Limb.” Experimental Brain Research, vol. 232, no. 12, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014, pp. 3785–95, doi:10.1007/s00221-014-4071-1.

Lum’s article discusses the technicalities of the actual grip of prosthetic arms/hands. Although it sounds simple, many tests have to be conducted in order to make these prosthetics practical for use. A few of these different tests are shown in the article, along with their results. They found that oftentimes these grips would be limited so they continuously try to make them more and more practical. Scientists figured out how to input different settings for different scenarios (light and heavy objects) The article (which was found in the New Paltz Database) is reliable, as it states all of its references from the various tests and trials that were recorded and mentioned in the article. This article was also found through the New Paltz database.

 

  Bragaru, Mihail, et al. “Amputees and Sports: a Systematic Review.” Sports Medicine (Auckland), vol. 41, no. 9, Springer International Publishing, 2011, pp. 721–40, doi:10.2165/11590420-000000000-00000.

The article talks about the amputees that are involved in sports. They discuss the various prosthetic devices used to allow amputees to compete within sports (for instance leg prosthetics for running). There is an argument that these prosthetics may not always be fair against the other. The article also briefly mentions how prosthetics may come to be better and more effective than human limbs in sports. A problem with the article, however, is its formatting, as it is very clumped together and has unclear headers. This is important to the topic of prosthetic limbs because prosthetics can be used for amputee sports. This article was also found in the New Paltz database.

 

Chalmers University of Technology. “Mind-controlled arm prostheses that ‘feel’ are now a part of everyday life.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 April 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases /2020/04/200430110321.htm>.

This fairly recent article talks of the advance in technology we now have for prosthetic limbs. It is rather interesting, as it talks of what we can be seen within the near future for prosthetics. It contains a hefty amount of information to be able to include it within my research. Experiencing the sense of touch through a prosthetic is a huge milestone and important to discuss. I found this on the Science Daily website which was previously recommended by one of my high school teachers. The article also has all of its sources/references at the bottom of the article.

 

Hafner, Brian J., et al. “Construct Validity of the Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-M) in Adults With Lower Limb Amputation.” Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, vol. 98, no. 2, Elsevier Inc, 2016, pp. 277–85, doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2016.07.026.

Prosthetic limbs for the lower half of your body are what this article focuses on. I found this to be rather important to my research since the majority of the information I have is already on the upper half of the body. It also runs through mobility tests and other statistics on innovations and changes that have been put in place for better prosthetics. The article was long but useful, full of a lot of statistics and information. Sections and topics within the article were quite clear as well. The author lists all of their sources at the bottom of the page too. This article was also found in the New Paltz database.

 

Prosthetic limbs will be just as good, if not better than natural limbs in the near future. This is not only for those with amputated limbs, but even just elderly people, which can apply to anyone. I believe that this technology will become a central part of our species as it will make the lives of so many people easier. It is important to read up on this subject since it may apply to you one day.