An accident at work took Newport resident Paul Briscoe’s arm just below the elbow, now futuristic technology that he is learning how to use at the Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Outpatient Rehabilitation Department is giving him the opportunity to gain back his life.
“My new arm makes it easier for me to do everyday things like buckling my belt, folding money, tying my shoes, cracking an egg without crushing the shell, holding a tomato and slicing it,” said Briscoe.
What makes his new i-LIMB Hand unique is the device’s advanced mechanical engineering capabilities. Electrodes sit on the surface of the skin and pick up electrical signals that are generated in a patient’s arm and translate those signals into movement so the patient can actually move each individual finger providing an enormous amount of dexterity. The patient can also control how much pressure is exerted through the fingers, making it possible to pick up a grape and not squash it.
 
“Up until now, a prosthetic hand, or terminal device, resembled a hook or was comprised of a hook-like component with a cosmetic glove over the hand,” explained Gail Ford, an occupational therapist at the Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Outpatient Rehabilitation Department. “With the advances found in the i-LIMB Hand, patients are able to have a much more realistic experience.”

Briscoe looks very natural using his new arm and hand to look through a newspaper or tie a shoe, but that wasn’t always the case. “At first I thought, ‘How long do I want to live like this.’”

He thought when his new arm came he would be able to put it on and immediately be able to use it. That was not the case and he became frustrated and left it lying around for about a month before his prosthetist, the doctor who had fitted his prosthesis, sent him to see Ford. He showed up to his first therapy session without his arm. “Gail said to me, ‘You come in here without that arm, I’ll be on ya!’” After that, Briscoe met the challenge of wearing his arm and he is becoming a pro at doing simple everyday tasks that he used to take for granted.


His bionic hand has made all of the difference in the world for Briscoe. His advice for other amputees, “Don’t give up. There are things out there like prosthetic arms that can give you your life back.”

And with a smile he says, “I’m back to being me.”