Remaining foot nerve endings from a patient’s stump were “rewired” to healthy tissue in the thigh. Six sensors fitted on the foot sole of a prosthesis were then linked to artificial stimulators connected to the stump, allowing the sensors to Researchers Unveil World's First 'Feeling' Artificial Legsend the appropriate signals to the brain whenever the user applies pressure.
“In a healthy foot, skin receptors carry out this function but they are obviously missing here,” Professor Hubert Egger at the University of Linz in northern Austria told AFP.
“The sensors tell the brain there is a foot and the wearer has the impression that it rolls off the ground when he walks. All things considered, the procedure is a very simple one given the results.”
Wolfgang Rangger, who lost his leg in 2007 and has been testing the prosthesis for the past six months, told AFP that “it’s like a second lease of life.”
“It feels like I have a foot again. I no longer slip on ice and I can tell whether I walk on gravel, concrete, grass or sand. I can even feel small stones,” he said.
According to Egger, the “feeling prosthesis” reduces the phantom pain because it allows the brain to receive real data from the nerves again.
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