Co-creation and User Perspectives for Upper Limb Prosthetics

People who either use an upper limb prosthesis and/or have used services provided by a prosthetic rehabilitation centre, experience limitations of currently available prosthetic devices. Collaboration between academia and a broad range of stakeholders, can lead to the development of solutions that address peoples' needs. By doing so, the rate of prosthetic device abandonment can decrease. Co-creation is an approach that can enable collaboration of this nature to occur throughout the research process. We present findings of a co-creation project that gained user perspectives from a user survey, and a subsequent workshop involving: people who use an upper limb prosthesis and/or have experienced care services (users), academics, industry experts, charity executives, and clinicians. The survey invited users to prioritise six themes, which academia, clinicians, and industry should focus on over the next decade. The prioritisation of the themes concluded in the following order, with the first as the most important: function, psychology, aesthetics, clinical service, collaboration, and media. Within five multi-stakeholder groups, the workshop participants discussed challenges and collaborative opportunities for each theme. Workshop groups prioritised the themes based on their discussions, to highlight opportunities for further development. Two groups chose function, one group chose clinical service, one group chose collaboration, and another group chose media. The identified opportunities are presented within the context of the prioritised themes, including the importance of transparent information flow between all stakeholders; user involvement throughout research studies; and routes to informing healthcare policy through collaboration. As the field of upper limb prosthetics moves toward in-home research, we present co-creation as an approach that can facilitate user involvement throughout the duration of such studies.

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Co-Creation Facilitates Translational Research on Upper Limb Prosthetics

Prosthesis ◽

10.3390/prosthesis3020012 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 110-118

Author(s):

Hannah Jones ◽

Sigrid Dupan ◽

Maxford Coutinho ◽

Sarah Day ◽

Deirdre Desmond ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Upper Limb ◽

Rehabilitation Centre ◽

Stakeholder Collaboration ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Academic Knowledge ◽

Upper Limb Prosthesis ◽

The People ◽

User Data ◽

Multi Stakeholder ◽

Upper Limb Prosthetics

People who either use an upper limb prosthesis and/or have used services provided by a prosthetic rehabilitation centre, hereafter called users, are yet to benefit from the fast-paced growth in academic knowledge within the field of upper limb prosthetics. Crucially over the past decade, research has acknowledged the limitations of conducting laboratory-based studies for clinical translation. This has led to an increase, albeit rather small, in trials that gather real-world user data. Multi-stakeholder collaboration is critical within such trials, especially between researchers, users, and clinicians, as well as policy makers, charity representatives, and industry specialists. This paper presents a co-creation model that enables researchers to collaborate with multiple stakeholders, including users, throughout the duration of a study. This approach can lead to a transition in defining the roles of stakeholders, such as users, from participants to co-researchers. This presents a scenario whereby the boundaries between research and participation become blurred and ethical considerations may become complex. However, the time and resources that are required to conduct co-creation within academia can lead to greater impact and benefit the people that the research aims to serve.

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Systems in Prosthetic Hands and the Relationship With Their Performance

Volume 3A: Biomedical and Biotechnology Engineering ◽

10.1115/imece2013-63179 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Julio C. Díaz-Montes ◽

Jesús Manuel Dorador-González

Keyword(s):

Upper Limb ◽

State Of The Art ◽

The State ◽

Prosthetic Devices ◽

Prosthetic Hands ◽

Upper Limb Prosthesis ◽

The Relationship ◽

Limb Prosthesis ◽

The Way

A review of the state of the art in prosthetic hands is presented; this review covers the most common commercial prosthesis and prototypes under development. In this analysis, prosthetic devices were divided in six systems: actuation, reduction, blocking, transmission, flexion and support. The information obtained is presented according to those systems. The most important features of each system are presented together with their relationship with the performance of the entire prosthesis. An analysis that indicates the way in which prosthesis take advantage of the capabilities of current technologies is presented. Recommendations for improving the performance of upper limb prosthesis are proposed.

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From Design to Research: Upper Limb Prosthetic Research and Development in Canada, 1960-2000

Scientia Canadensis Canadian Journal of the History of Science Technology and Medicine ◽

10.7202/1036042ar ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 50-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David J. A. Foord ◽

Peter Kyberd

Keyword(s):

Research And Development ◽

Upper Limb ◽

Rehabilitation Centre ◽

Common View ◽

Upper Limb Prosthesis ◽

History Of ◽

The Common ◽

The University ◽

And Training ◽

Limb Prosthesis

This paper examines the history of the research and development (R&D) of myoelectric upper limb prosthesis in Canada from 1960 to 2000. It focuses on two of the prosthetic research and training units (PRTUs) that were created and funded by the federal government as a result of the Thalidomide tragedy: the Rehabilitation Centre at the Ontario Crippled Children’s Centre (OCCC) and successor organizations, and the University of New Brunswick’s (UNB) Institute of Biomedical Engineering (the Institute or IBME). Both developed commercial systems for myoelectrically controlled arms and hands. We argue that, in contrast to the common view that research in universities and public research institutions has increasingly moved away from basic problems and to product development and commercialization over the period, research in this field has moved in the opposite direction. We explore these cases in detail and examine the forces at work in this change from a design-oriented approach to one that became research intensive.

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Survey of upper limb prosthesis users in Sweden, the United Kingdom and Canada

Prosthetics and Orthotics International ◽

10.1177/0309364611409099 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 234-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Peter J Kyberd ◽

Wendy Hill

Keyword(s):

Upper Limb ◽

Postal Questionnaire ◽

Single Factor ◽

Chi Square ◽

Prosthetic Devices ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Upper Limb Prosthesis ◽

Upper Limb Prostheses ◽

Different Types ◽

Limb Prosthesis

Background: As part of the process of improving prosthetic arms, it is important to obtain the opinions of the user population.Objectives: To identify factors that should be focused on to improve prosthesis provision.Study design: Postal questionnaire.Methods: The questionnaire was sent to 292 adults (aged 18 to 70 years) with upper-limb loss or absence at five centres (four in Europe) Participants were identified as regular attendees of the centres.Results: This questionnaire received a response from 180 users (response rate 62%) of different types of prosthetic devices. Responses showed that the type of prosthesis generally used was associated with gender, level of loss and use for work (Pearson chi-square, p-values below 0.05). The type of prosthesis was not associated with cause, side, usage (length per day, sports or driving) or reported problems. The findings did not identify any single factor requiring focus for the improvement of prostheses or prosthetic provision.Conclusions: Every part of the process of fitting a prosthesis can be improved, which will have an effect for some of the population who use their devices regularly. There is, however, no single factor that would bring greater improvement to all users.Clinical relevance Based on information gained from a broad range of prosthesis users, no single aspect of prosthetic provision will have a greater impact on the use of upper limb prostheses than any other. Efforts to improve the designs of prosthetic systems can cover any aspect of provision.

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