After a relaxing spring break, I am back to my project! Week 5 just wrapped up, and things are going well.
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| The unusually dark hallway to my lab |
ASU has it's spring break this week, and going to my site felt kind of like walking through a ghost town. Most of my week was spent going through some papers and getting my program to work. I covered a remarkable amount of ground with my social analysis. I read through a couple different papers in the American Journal of Nursing, that talked about different reactions to prosthetics. Something important that was mentioned in one of the papers,“The Pneumatic Arm Prosthesis" was about how there are three primary problems for an amputee: 1) the difference in daily function, 2) the perception of the way society will now view the amputee, and 3) the patient’s reception of the prosthetic (1993). While considering that this paper was published in 1993, the first problem has mostly been taken care of with newer forms of physical therapy, but the second and third are two of the most important social concerns that I want to further explore.
Kind of related to this was a heartwarming story that I saw on the news. It was a story about how a 4 year old boy with an amputation had been given a doll that had a prosthetic. After he lost his leg from an injury while playing with his dog, the four year-old had been using a temporary prosthetic, and a walker, to get around; but Prosthetists were able to design him a prosthetic to use permanently(CBS). In order to get him used to wearing it and removing it, he was given a doll with a prosthetic, that he could use to learn how to use his own prosthetics. After looking into this, I realized that the manufacturers of such dolls and toys made these to get rid of any resistance that children may have as they adapt to their new lives with their prosthetics. It was something small, but I thought it was a touching way to make sure the kid felt comfortable and was happy as he transitioned to using his new prosthetic.
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| My Desk |
Other than that, my program is going well, I got the connection built between the Armband and my computer and was able to record some EMG data, so that was good. Thank you so much for reading this, and if you have any questions, make sure to leave them in the comments below.
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| The Connection was built! |
Sources
Kessler, Henry H., and Kiessling, Edward
A.. “The Pneumatic Arm Prosthesis.” The American Journal of Nursing, vol. 65, no. 6, 1965, pp. 114–117. 9 Mar. 2017.
http://www.cbs5az.com/story/34711689/valley-boy-comforted-by-doll-with-prosthetic-leg-valley-boy-comforted-by-doll-with-prosthetic-leg
