PROBLEM SOLVED: TRANSCARPAL HAND CREATES FITTING OPTIONS FOR THOUSANDS
MINEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA May 18th, 2001 -
Otto Bock Health Care just solved one of the outstanding problems in upper limb prosthetics with its new 8E44 Transcarpal Hand. For the first time individuals with very long residual limbs can be fitted with myoelectric hands while maintaining natural arm length.
To create the groundbreaking 8E44 Transcarpal Hand, engineers at Otto Bock designed the hand mechanism and the inner hand shell together to optimize all available space. Then they repositioned the motor so that it takes up less room proximally and ingeniously reduced its size by 1/3– all while maintaining the grip force and speed of comparable adult hands. Finally, to save even more space Otto Bock designed an innovative new connection technique that incorporates cable loops right into the user's forearm shell, avoiding the extra length of a standard lamination ring.
Director of Professional Services for Otto Bock, Todd Anderson, CPO, FAAOP, stresses, "We're pleased with the technological results, in that we've created the most compact myoelectric hand in the world. But we're even more excited about the human results. Now we can offer a solution to people who otherwise had few options–and this solution is not only extremely functional and lightweight, but also cosmetic."
Up until now, individuals with long residual limbs tended to either forgo any type of prosthetic device, or used a body-powered hook, but the Otto Bock Transcarpal Hand has changed all that—and opened up a whole new market in the process. Now individuals who want a more natural appearance can also have myoelectric grasp and release capability.
Established in 1958, Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Otto Bock Health Care, North America, is the U.S. corporate headquarters of Otto Bock Healthcare, GmbH, based in Duderstadt, Germany. Otto Bock, a leading international prosthetic and orthotic manufacturer, has more than 3,000 employees worldwide and produces over 20,000 types of prosthetic and orthotic components, rehabilitation products and technical plastics, and also provides information technology services.
