Performance comparison among children fitted with myoelectric and body-powered hands

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Rehabilitation
• Prosthetics and Orthotics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Unilateral below-elbow amputation affects children's functional abilities.
• Comparing myoelectric (MYO) and body-powered (BP) prosthetic hands is crucial for optimizing prosthetic selection.
• Understanding performance differences aids in clinical decision-making for pediatric prosthetic users.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the functional performance of myoelectric and body-powered prosthetic hands in children with unilateral below-elbow amputation.
• To evaluate task-specific efficiency and error rates between MYO and BP prosthetic hands.
• To assess overall user experience and quality of performance with different prosthetic technologies.

Main Methods:

• Seventy-six children (ages 6-17) with below-elbow amputation were randomly fitted with MYO and BP prosthetic hands.
• Each child used each prosthetic type for three months after initial training.
• Performance was assessed using a form board test and a battery of ten practical bimanual activities.

Main Results:

• Children using MYO prosthetics took 13.7% longer on the form board test and made more errors, including dropping objects.
• Object displacement errors were similar between MYO and BP hands.
• MYO hands were minimally faster in overall practical activities, but BP hands were significantly faster for card playing; MYO hands were faster for donning socks, cutting paper, and bandage application.

Conclusions:

• No major clinically significant differences in performance were observed between MYO and BP prosthetic hands in this pediatric cohort.
• Both prosthetic types demonstrated performance rated as poorer than normal quality.
• The choice between MYO and BP prosthetics may depend on specific task demands and individual user needs.