All of my columns have been about how biomedical engineering helps people and animals, but there are downsides such as cost and environmental damage. So how good do the benefits look when compared to their not-as-appealing counterparts?
Prosthetics like false arms or legs are great alternatives to people who are missing one or more limbs. They can be made relatively quickly, are customizable and are made to fit the user/amputee. But the costs could be way too high for some people just coming out of a very pricey amputation (limb amputations are $10,000 to $40,000 depending on the limb) the cost of the surgery could make it so some people will have to adapt to a new lifestyle as well as missing a limb.
A prosthetic arm can cost the patient anywhere between three thousand dollars to $100,000 depending on the technology in it. The different technologies range from body-powered prosthetics to advanced bionic. Body powered is what it sounds like. The user moves the prosthetic under their own steam with little to no assistance. Body-powered prosthetic limbs can range from three thousand dollars to $10,000.Myoelectric prosthetics range from $20,000 to $100,000. Myoelectric prosthetics use electrical signals sent from muscles to connect to operate.
Now cost is not the only drawback to getting or making prosthetics. There’s also the effects shipping and developing materials has on the environment.
Carbon fiber is an ultra-light but insanely strong material used in some prosthetics. Carbon fiber also can make things a lot more expensive than they would have been without it. This sounds okay so far. It makes the prosthesis lighter and easier to use, but it does cost quite a bit. The process of making carbon fiber is very energy intensive, meaning more energy is needed to make it and that means more greenhouse gases are produced. For every kilogram of carbon fiber created there’s approximately 15 to 45 kilograms of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. For example, there is around 50 cm of carbon fiber used in a false foot, so that’s 0.069 kg of carbon dioxide for every carbon fiber foot made.
Even after a prosthetic is fitted as well as it could be, maintenance is a lifelong requirement. Maintenance includes regular checkups and adjustments. This is especially true during the first year of having a prosthetic because the residual limb is still changing shape. But some people with prosthetics that may require more frequent care have a maintenance kit with them.
Prosthetics are life changing medical devices that open so many opportunities to many different people with different reasons to have them. But they are not without their faults. They can break, they can be very uncomfortable to the users even after the fitting and adjustments. But those are some smaller cons and some people think that the larger ones like what developing materials do to the environment are more important to focus on. I think engineers should find cost- and environmentally-effective ways to improve prosthetics and the life of the people using these technologies.