31,000 Year Old Amputation

A discovery of skeletal remains of a young individual from Borneo who had the distal third of their left lower leg surgically amputated, probably as a child, at least 31,000 years ago. The individual survived the procedure and lived for another 6–9 years, before their remains were intentionally buried in Liang Tebo cave, which is located in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, in a limestone karst area that contains some of the world’s earliest dated rock art.

The lack of infection further rules out the probability of animal attack, such as a crocodile bite, because an attack has a very high probability of complications from infection owing to microorganisms from the animal’s teeth entering the wound.

The discovery of this exceptionally old evidence of deliberate amputation shows the advanced level of medical expertise developed by early modern human foragers in a Late Pleistocene tropical rainforest environment.

To read more about one of the first amputations discovered visit https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05160-8

 The Civil War

Over the course of the Civil War, an estimated 476,000 soldiers were wounded by bullets, artillery shrapnel, or sabers and bayonets.  The most common wounds suffered by Civil War soldiers were from the bullets fired by muskets.

Over the course of the Civil War, three out of four surgeries (or close to 60,000 operations) were amputations. This earned surgeons throughout the armies a reputation of being “butchers” when in fact amputations were one of the quickest, most effective ways for surgeons to treat as many patients as possible in a short amount of time.

The chances of survival for an amputation depended on where the amputation was performed and how fast medical treatment was administered after the wounding. Many amputations over the Civil War occurred at the fingers, wrist, thigh, lower leg, or upper arm. The closer the amputation was to the chest and torso, the lower the chances were of survival as the result of blood loss or other complications. Many surgeons preferred to perform primary amputations, which were completed within forty-eight hours of the injury. They had a higher chance of survival rather than intermediary amputations which took place between three and thirty days.

For more information about amputations during the Civil War visit https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/amputations-and-civil-war

 Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Meilani Hamilton, born February 8, 1990, is an American professional surfer and writer who survived a 2003 shark attack. Her left arm was bitten off but returned to being a professional surfer. She wrote her own book called Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board in 2004.

While Hamilton was lying on her surfboard stomach-down and talking with her friend Alana, a 14-foot-long (4.3 m) tiger shark attacked her. The Blanchards helped paddle Hamilton back to shore, then Alana's father made a tourniquet out of a rash guard and wrapped it around the stump of her arm then was rushed to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. By the time she arrived there, she had lost over 60% of her blood and was in hypovolemic shock. Hamilton's father, who was scheduled to have knee surgery that same morning, was already there, but she took his place in the operating room with the same doctor.

Hamilton got a custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker than a standard board and had a handle for her right arm which made it easier to paddle, and she learned to kick more to make up for the loss of her left arm. After Hamilton taught herself to surf with one arm, she returned to surfing on November 26, 2003. It was only 26 days after the shark attack, and she entered her first major competition on January 10, 2004. She now uses standard competitive performance short-boards.

 

Personalizing Prosthetics

One of the most common ways to have personalized prosthetics is to incorporate a design into the prosthetic fabrication. For example, an athlete may want to incorporate a favorite t-shirt onto their above knee or below knee prosthetic.A t-shirt can be fitted onto the cast of the prosthetic leg. Liquid acrylic is poured over the shirt to seal it in place.

Another way to get personalized prosthetics is to have a design painted or airbrushed onto the prosthetic. Many people have school, athletic team, country flag, or state outline painted onto their prosthetics and then sealed.

Airbrushing or spray skins can add artistic flair to prosthetics. What if your patient needs a prosthetic design for an upper extremity? No worries. Personalized prosthetics can also be designed for upper extremity prosthetics as well after the central fabrication process.

Often, design ideas happen after fabrication but before the materials are laminated for the prosthetic. Elite Paraolympians may choose to duplicate a phrase or piece of artwork they love into their prosthetic. If someone loses their leg below the knee, and had a favorite tattoo on it, the tattoo design can be replicated.

If a patient loves the artwork of Van Gogh or Renoir, they can have a small sample of art on their new prosthetic. Graffiti art from street artists is also a popular choice because of the beauty and originality of each design.

A patient’s prosthetic should be personalized for them and their lifestyle. In the past, prosthetics were one-dimensional and boring in design. With modern technology designing personalized prosthetics allows a patient to have an Ironman-designed prosthesis for their leg.

They can even choose an upper extremity prosthetic that is a gorgeous field of flowers.

How your patients decide to customize their prosthesis are limited only by what they dream up. Many people even start Pinterest pages with prosthetic design ideas so that they can create the perfect design for them.

https://gpfinc.com/customize-a-prosthetic/