Table Of Contentby Susan H. Gray
INNOVATION IN MEDICINE
Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing
Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.cherrylakepublishing.com
Content Adviser: Noshene Elaine Ranjbar, MD
Design: The Design Lab
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Copyright ©2009 by Cherry Lake Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means
without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gray, Susan Heinrichs.
Artificial limbs / by Susan H. Gray.
p. cm.—(Innovation in medicine)
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60279-229-6
ISBN-10: 1-60279-229-1
1. Artificial limbs—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series.
RD756.G45 2009
617.5’8—dc22 2008002036
Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Please visitwww.21stcenturyskills.org for more information.
ChapterOne
A Long, Painful History 4
ChapterTwo
New Ways of Thinking
and New Inventions 11
ChapterThree
Don’t Forget the User! 16
Chapter Four
What’s Next? 19
Chapter Five
Innovators Who Led the Way 24
Glossary 30
For MoreInformation 31
Index 32
About theAuthor 32
INNOVATION IN MEDICINE
4
CHAPTER ONE
“Last one in is a rotten egg!” shouted Jeanne as she and
her friend Joan raced toward the swimming pool.
“You know I’m going to win!” replied Joan. Suddenly,
Jeanne stopped and stared across the pool.
“I’m going to win for sure if you don’t start moving.
What are you looking at?” said Joan.
“What is your uncle doing?” asked Jeanne with
amazement.
Joan looked at Uncle Tim. “Oh, don’t worry about
him. Didn’t you know he has an artificial leg? The kind
he has can’t be worn in the water so he takes it off before
he goes swimming. No big deal.”
“I had no idea! He walks and runs just like everyone
else. How does he do that?”
“Come on! We’ll go talk to him. He can tell you all
about his artificial limb. Losing a leg is awful, of course,
but the limb is really cool,” explained Jeanne. “And he can
Artificial Limbs
5
For centuries, those who needed artificial limbs
were usually fitted with simple wooden or
metal prostheses.
do just about anything anybody else can do. Race you to
the other side of the pool!”
(cid:58)(cid:0)(cid:58)(cid:0)(cid:58)
C
an you imagine cutting off your own foot? That
is what the ancient prophet Hegesistratus did nearly
2,500 years ago when he was captured by his enemies.
They chained his ankle and threatened to kill him.
INNOVATION IN MEDICINE
6
Hegesistratus escaped by cutting off his own foot and
hobbling away. He replaced the foot with a wooden one,
but his freedom was short-lived. He was soon recaptured
and beheaded.
About 200 years later, the Roman general Marcus
Sergius lost his arm in battle. An iron hand was created
for him, allowing him to hold his shield. He returned
to the battlefield and fought many times, clutching his
shield with his artificial limb.
Hegesistratus and Marcus Sergius are just two
early examples of people who used artificial limbs, or
prostheses. The artificial foot of Hegesistratus and the
hand of Sergius were primitive. Until the 1500s, people
who survived the loss of a limb had few options. They
strapped on wooden pegs to replace missing legs or hooks
to replace missing hands.
In 1504, things began to change. That year, a German
knight lost his right hand in battle. He then had an iron
hand made to replace it. But this hand’s design was quite
clever. The fingers and thumb were jointed and could
open and close.
Soon Ambroise Paré appeared on the scene. He
was born in France in 1510. At the time, surgery was a
gruesome business. Barbers with little medical training
often performed operations. Paré became a barber-
surgeon and worked on soldiers injured in war. He
Artificial Limbs
A Long, Painful History 7
Wood and leather were once commonly used to
make artificial limbs.
often had to remove the bloody, shattered hands, feet,
arms, and legs of men writhing in pain. The suffering
touched him deeply and motivated him to think of
better ways to care for his patients. Paré improved the
method of removing, or amputating, damaged limbs.
He also designed an artificial hand with fingers operated
by springs.
For the next 150 years or so, there were few
developments in prosthetics. Artificial limbs remained
heavy, uncomfortable, and clumsy.
In 1696, Pieter Verduyn created an artificial lower leg
with hinges. Verduyn was a Dutch surgeon who set out
INNOVATION IN MEDICINE
8
to build a leg that better served its wearer. His invention
included a leather belt that strapped around the thigh.
This helped support the weight of the amputee and
made the prosthesis more comfortable.
Barely more than a century later, James Potts created
the Anglesey wooden leg. The leg included a steel knee
joint and a wooden ankle joint. A tough, stretchy band
of catgut ran from the upper part of the leg down to the
knee. As its user walked along, the knee and ankle would
bend, then snap back into place. The leg was named after
the Marquis of Anglesey, who wore it after losing his
Wounded soldiers who fought in theCivil War
beg in the street. Many soldiers lost limbs during
the conflict.
Artificial Limbs
