Complete arm prosthesis, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1979
Movements of this mobile arm prosthesis are controlled by movements of the muscles around the child’s shoulder blades. These movements are powered by compressed carbon dioxide. The gas is stored in cylinders in the ‘passive’ arm. An active child might use two gas cylinders per day. Such limbs were fitted to children from 18 months upwards. The arm prosthesis was developed by the Orthopaedic Bioengineering Unit at Prin-cess Margaret Rose Hospital, Edinburgh during the 1960s. It was designed for chil-dren born with absent or malformed limbs. This was the result of their mothers taking the drug thalidomide during pregnancy.
Object number:
1979-894
Related Themes and Topics
Glossary:
Glossary: orthopaedics
The branch of medicine concerned with the preservation and restoration of the muscular and skeletal systems in the body.
Glossary: artificial arm
No description.