Touch Bionics strongly advocates the importance of dedicated occupational therapy to help achieve successful outcomes for patients fit with its i-limb ultra revolution, i-limb ultra and i-limb digits products.

Our commitment to therapy as a key element of successful fittings is reinforced in our support services and by the ongoing development of our product lines, such as virtu-limb and biosim, key elements of which are developed with the therapist in mind.

Achieving successful patient outcomes with myoelectric upper limb prostheses can be challenging and, without the correct training, an advanced prosthesis may ultimately be rejected by the patient.

Advanced upper limb devices are much more complex to fit, and the functional training and degree of therapy expertise required, are very different to that of lower limb prostheses. To achieve the best patient outcomes, prosthetists and therapists must work together with the patient. 

The fitting process was very involved and it was highly beneficial to be able to see how the Touch Life Center prosthetist and therapist worked together to help the patient get the best outcome from the prosthesis. close quote

Alexis Maloney, MS, OTR/L

 

Key elements of ensuring a successful patient outcome:

  1. Experienced medical and rehabilitation team management
    Making certain that the prosthetist and therapist are knowledgeable and trained in upper limb fittings.
  2. Prescribing a prosthesis to those who are appropriate candidates
    Unless an upper limb patient has been appropriately screened for candidacy, the outcome will be compromised.
  3. Skilled fabrication of the prosthesis
    This is critically important. A poorly fitting or badly made prosthesis will limit the patient's ability to succeed with it.
  4. Skilled occupational therapy training of the patient in the use of the prosthesis
    A patient's success with an upper limb prosthesis will be greatly increased if they are properly trained in how to use it to achieve the tasks they undertake on a daily basis.
  5. Comprehensive follow-up with consistent data gathering and documentation of functional needs 
    Analysing a patient's experience with an upper limb prosthesis is the only way to truly learn what benefits it brings them.

It's the little things that are important, like being able to hold a glass while you pour into it, or being able to cut up the food on my plate, rather than having someone else do it for me. close quote

Patrick Kane

Prosthetists/Therapists

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"Controlling the hand feels very natural, although it does take a bit longer to learn how to use the automatic grips and gestures, so it was very useful to be able to work with the therapist on these skills."

Patrick Kane
London, UK

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