WEBVTT - Prosthetic Limbs 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.720 Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:15.960 works dot com. Hey guys, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:18.400 This is Alison Madamouth, the science editor how stuff flix 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:20.560 dot com. And this is Robert Lamb science We're right 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.520 or how stuff works dot com. Tell me, Allison, have 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:27.600 you ever secretly wished you had a prosthetic arm, like 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:32.360 a fake you know, like a robotic hand or anything. Um, 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.000 until this afternoon, I might have answered you with a no. 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.199 But there's some pretty cool prosthetic devices out there and 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.360 a little research into Oscar Pistorius. Have you have you 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:45.159 heard about this guy? You probably did? Oh, this is 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.280 the blade Runner, right, yeah, yeah, he's awesome. Um, and 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.400 it's funny too because I actually do think about prosthetic 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:54.640 limbs when I'm when I'm running, that's when I've most 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:56.680 thought about it, and I think, you know, wow, I'm 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:58.960 really grateful to have my legs and running and gosh, 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:00.840 my legs are tired, and maybe I should go get 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:04.280 a blade Runner like Oscar, Like maybe you should. You 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.560 should lose your legs and replace them with with super 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:11.520 high tech prosthetics like a cheetah. That thing is awesome. Hey, 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:13.080 just so you guys know, we are going to be 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.920 talking about prosthetic limbs today, and we know that there 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:18.280 are a lot of people out there who have lost 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.440 a limb, and we don't take that lightly, but we 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:23.399 will be talking pretty candidly about it today. Yeah, And uh, 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:26.480 like I have I have this kind of mixed thing 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.800 about it because as a kid, I loved the idea 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:31.920 of like having like a robot hand or something because 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:33.280 it was all over the place. You know. It's like 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:35.480 you're watching Pirate movies and they have peg legs, or 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.240 you're watching like he Man cartoons and it's kind of 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:40.960 lockjaw and he had like this big robot arm and 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:43.720 and so you know, it's and I still find a 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:45.440 lot of that stuff really cool. You know. It's all that, 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.800 you know, a billion dollar man type of thing, you know, um, 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:53.320 and you know, cyborgs and making somebody stronger through technology, 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.040 h and impervious. You know. But then at the same time, 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.080 I like, I'll think about it, you know, I'll be 0:01:58.080 --> 0:01:59.680 like typing or something like, man, if I lost a 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.640 hand would really suck, Like how would I move my mouse? 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.920 You know? Um, you know, and well you might not 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:09.360 use that fictionality with some of the technologies available today. 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:11.359 That's right, and we're going to talk about some of them, 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.760 but can we talk about Oscar for a second blade runner? Yeah, yeah, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.040 we were talking about him. So just a reminder for 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:18.360 those of you guys who don't remember him. He used 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.240 the sprinter who was on track to make the South 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:24.000 African Olympic team. And according to a Wired story by 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:27.360 Josh mqugh, this was an Oscar story. He was born 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.399 with two toes on each tiny foot, and each leg 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.000 was missing its fibula. And the fibula is that long, 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.880 thin bone that connects your calf muscle and it forms 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:40.160 outside the ankle. So they were pretty bad shape. Yeah, 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.120 it was missing actually, So it was pretty much a 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.120 situation of either keep these and use a wheelchair for 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.920 the rest of your life, or double amputee and sort 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.720 of start from scratch, put some prosthetics on there and 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:54.600 you know, and learn how to use them at an 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.320 early age, right, So Oscar's parents obviously went with the 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.720 latter choice, and at each one and a off. According 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.600 to a Wired arter mceugh, the Storiers took his first 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.840 steps on a set of fiber last pigs, and now 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:08.480 he's pretty darned fast on them, just to give you 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:10.960 an idea of how fast he can cover nine point 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.639 four meters per second on them. Yeah, and if you 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.440 haven't seen a picture of these, I mean, do have 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:17.960 do a search for it, because it's it's really awesome. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.000 I think either this guy or a guy with a 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.280 pair of these showed up in the first season of 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:25.000 My Name is Earl, No kidding. Yeah, he like runs 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:26.680 around on him and it looks awesome because they have 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:29.600 this like they've been backwards and they're like springing in 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:31.760 to the untrained eye, they look just like a curved 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.240 piece of metal, you know, and not something that's like 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:36.000 ultra you know. It looks a little bit like a 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:39.200 hockey like a hockey stick. And yeah, imagine a guy 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.440 like running on like hockey sticks and except just having 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:44.640 like this awesome spring to his step and just like 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.000 really fast. It's it's kind of amazing. Yeah, and they're 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.280 pretty expensive too for all that spring and power. There 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.680 between fifteen thousand and eighteen thousand, uh per per cheetah 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:56.280 per blate. So stories is fate for the two thousand 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:59.160 and eight Olympics was that he eventually was cleared and 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:00.520 he was going to be able to run in the 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.080 Beijing Olympics if you qualified. Um, but he in fact didn't. 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.600 He didn't he didn't make the Olympic qualifying standard in 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.040 the four hundred. But this is kind of interesting. I 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.640 was thinking about it. I mean, Oscar is so fast 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:17.080 that I was wondering, you know, with these types of 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:21.719 cheetah blades and and these type of prosthetic devices, could 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.200 we eventually see the Paralympics, you know, breaking records that 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.560 the Olympic athletes camp. I don't know, it's worth it's 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:30.799 worth thinking about. You know. It's the as the technology 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.800 improves and we we get we're better able to to 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.479 replicate you know, the use we would get out of 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.960 an actual limb, you know, stands the reason we might 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.400 reach the point where we could you know, improve upon 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.960 the design to certain degree and improve they have. Prosthetic 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.919 devices have come a long way. Yeah, there was you know, 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:51.320 there was a time long ago where have you lost 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.200 your arm to a you know, a savor tooth tiger 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.080 and whatnot. Then I don't know about a savor tooth. 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.600 I'm not sure about the crossover. They would say, Willy 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:01.919 mammoth bits your arm off you know, you wouldn't be 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:04.640 able to really get a prosthetic but but they really 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.040 started popping up pretty early in history. Did they found 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.320 one on a mummy? Didn't they like a fake toe? Yes? 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.400 They did. They found a three thousand year old fake 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.400 toe on an Egyptian noblewoman. Yeah. And oh, and tell 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.720 me about the Roman dude. I will tell you about 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.520 the Roman dude. The Roman dude was a guy named 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.880 Marcus Surgis, and he was a Roman general who lost 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.000 his right hand while he was battling in the one 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:28.560 of one of the Panick Wars, and Marcus ordered a 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.479 replacement hand made of iron to hold his shield, and 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:33.719 he he got his Roman self back out there on 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.320 the battlefield. That was a tough guy. Yeah, and this 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.440 is this ties into the whole like childhood, like you know, 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:41.440 love of the idea of prosthetic limbs. Like here's a 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.160 guy that's so awesome. He like goes out and he's, 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:46.359 you know, he's a he's this you know, action killing machine. 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:48.040 And then like they take his hand and he's like 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.520 I can just you know, slap a shield on there 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:53.760 and I'm good to go. So that's that's pretty impressive. 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.200 So one thing is that Old Marcus may have been 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.040 buried with his amputated limb, because people used to believe 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.600 that if you lost a limb while you were on earth, 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.160 that you should be buried with it, because otherwise you 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.920 might be limbless in the afterlife as well. It kind 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.480 of like with the mummies in the Coptic jars with 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.960 their organs and them. But of course, what road group 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.920 in history was renowned for their prosthetics. That would be 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:21.240 the pirates indeed, and we'll go ahead, sorry, Oh, it's 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:24.680 just gonna point out that in the Atlanta area there's 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.479 actually an amputee Prosthetic clinic Um and they have a 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.400 they have a pirate on the sign, like a cartoon pirate, 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:34.320 and their their phone number. I probably can't give out 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.720 the first part of it, but it's like, you know, like, 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:40.400 you know whatever, whatever, fake leg you know. Okay, So 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.799 that's direct and to the point. Yeah, and and interesting 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:44.360 too because it's like, you know, they seem to have 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.280 a real sense of humor or you know, about the 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:51.040 use of prosthetics and love pirates. So it's interesting. Yeah. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.280 So back in the back in the olden days of 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.640 wood and metal and leather with the were the materials 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.839 of choice for for your prosthetic limbs. But now we've 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:00.680 we've become kind of high tech because we're talking a 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.839 little bit about with oscar. So let's talk about some 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:05.640 of the newer ones. And meanwhile, we should probably give 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:07.640 you a little run through through the basic parts of 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:12.560 a prosthetic limb. Yeah, these are the basics. Um, you're 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.040 gonna want. You're gonna want a pie one, you sure will, 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.880 because it's like the heart of the prosthetic. Yeah, this 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.720 is I mean, this is like the skeleton, internal frame. 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.520 You know, this is replacing the bone that was lost essentially, right, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.360 it's providing the structural support. And you used to be 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.640 often made from metal rods. Nowadays you might be looking 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.560 at a lighter carbon fiber type composite. And then you 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.400 have the socket, right, And so the socket is the 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.720 part of the prosthetic device that meets the residual limb 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:43.320 or the limb stump as the case maybe. And a 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.240 good few here is obviously going to be critical because 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.320 you don't want that thing rubbing against you the wrong way. 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.760 I mean, come on, yeah, yeah, So good fit here 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.080 is really critical. And then lastly, you have the suspension system, 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:55.760 you gotta have something to attach it to your body 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:57.280 or make sure it stays on. And this could be 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:01.240 you know, whether it's just a suction which is pretty cool, um, 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.640 or you might have some sort of harness system or 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.160 a strap at belt or sleeve and uh, they can 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:10.560 be pretty inconspicuous. Yeah, um, but yeah, I guess there's 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.560 the strap ones are kind of the old model, right right, 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.360 and I think this section is is more current. Um, 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.080 but let's talk about some of the super cool ones. 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.920 Enough with the definition stuff, let's set to So why 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:22.360 don't we have such a need for this? I mean, 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.320 war definitely, um. I mean you have somebody rolling over 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:29.000 a roadside bomb and maybe they actually survive that incident, 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:30.480 but they lose a limb. In fact, a lot of 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.840 soldiers are coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq and uh 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:35.880 theaters around the world, and you know they've lost a 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:38.160 limb or they've lost multiple limbs. And then you have 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:39.640 areas the world where you still have a lot of 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:44.040 land mines and unexploded unexploded ordinance. So um, you know 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:47.360 people are losing limbs sadly to that, right, and then 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.680 you throw an accidents with machinery or fireworks, and you 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.720 have a pretty major need in both developing and developed countries. 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:55.720 Now this is something that I was really I found 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.160 really exciting. And this is they called this ostio integration, 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:04.040 right and uh and this is a apparently titanium can 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.200 be made to to actually fuse with the bone. Oh right, 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:09.360 I was heading about that in popular mechanics. Yeah. Yeah, 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:11.840 so this is like the ultimate you know, talking about 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.040 anchoring systems, Like if you can actually anchor it to 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:16.920 the bone, um, you know, in a very you know, 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:20.000 firm manner, then then that's that's better than any of 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.800 these methods. Um. Yeah. And so far they've used it 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.640 in a like dental um and facial implants, and of 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.200 course now it's being considered for limb prosthetics. Yeah. Well 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.160 they used it on German shepherd named Cassidy. Indeed they did. 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.720 And it looks like North Carolina State University is going 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.679 to try us six more of these operations in two 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:41.720 thousand ten that involve asso integration on impute dogs and 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:46.080 possibly an aweso lot. It's I mean, it's amazing like 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.040 some of the animal prosthetically come up with which on 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:50.760 all one level. It's like it's like this is the 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.600 place to test you know, technologies, you know, because animals 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.839 are really bad about like losing limbs. You know how 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:59.280 many three legged cats and dogs you see all the time, right, 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:01.520 and it never see to make a darn bit of difference. Well, 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.120 they don't really generally, they don't seem to care. Yeah, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.800 I'm good. Yeah, but you sent me a picture of 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:15.360 the elephant with the prosthetic yeah, from the tie Burmese border. Um. Yeah, 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.400 I lost the leg and they created this this prosthetic 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.319 leg for an elephant that was pretty pretty amazing. And 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:22.160 we also saw when we were like when we were 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:26.600 researching this of the bill. Oh yeah, the Romanian start 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:31.960 name Uzonka sus Lanka's Lanka got a processus. Yeah, like 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.319 somebody had been mean to these birds, to this bird 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:37.880 and damaged its bill, and they created a prosthetic bill 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.560 so it can function. More recently, I saw Dean Cayman's one. 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.360 Did you see the video on the Colbert Show or yeah, yeah, 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.760 with that awesome hand right, very high five Colbert with 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:50.280 a this prosthetic arm. Yeah. So this was the founder 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.840 of first Dean Cayman and it's pretty cool. Yeah, as 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.200 far as I know, it's it's not available, but the 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.280 technology is is pretty advanced. So this arm can pick 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:01.240 up a raisin or a grape on the table without 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.600 destroying it. So it has dexterity, it has uh those 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.880 fine motor skills down and Caman actually got the request 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.160 from DARPA. UM. DARPA said, hey, we want the vets 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.719 to come back and have better technologies available to them. UM, 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.320 and MPG technology really isn't there right now. So Caman 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:19.599 has been working on this for a while and he 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:21.520 wound up taking it down to the Walter Reed Military 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:26.000 Hospital and testing it up. The arm consense pressure and 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.320 temperature and basically the more pneumatic pressure you put on it, 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.520 the more it's attached. Cool. Some of that technology, um, 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.920 you know, was explored in the in the space industry 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:39.240 for space gloves the big thing because if you know, 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.160 if you have this huge thick layer between yourself and 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:45.000 say sensitive you know, equipment on a satellite you're trying 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:47.240 to repair, you know, you know, it's like trying to 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.960 play piano when you know, kitchen mits or something. Yeah. Right, 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.960 So so the idea here is, you know, create gloves 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.000 that can sense those things and can transfer those back 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.720 to the wear right in case you're just sparing. You know, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.160 it sounds like a lot of these technologies aren't available. Well, 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.240 some of them are actually, um there are a lot 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:06.520 of companies operating the space, and some of these cutting 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:10.280 edge prosthetics are already available. So there's one device that 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:12.320 I read about called pro Digits, and it's made by 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:15.800 a Scottish company, um by the name of Touch Bionics. 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.440 And this particular device can replace any or all fingers 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:21.880 on your hand, and it comes with this like tiny 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:24.079 little motor and a gearbox that's founded at the base 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.760 and they're commercially available. Okay, so here's the thing. Big 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:33.160 cost sixty dollars to seventy five dollars and that's going 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.360 to include fitting and occupational therapy. My question is, I 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:38.880 wonder if the Veterans Administration would cover this. I mean, 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:40.719 how much is that? How much of that cost is 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:43.640 going to be covered for an amputee? You know, how 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:45.240 much are we how much is you know the government 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.280 can contribute towards that. Yeah, so it seems like it's 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.679 a little price you still well, but I mean it's 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.079 it's you know it' kind of like a pr thing. 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.760 You know, it's like you're gonna convince people to join 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.439 the army when you know, they see people with missing 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:01.160 limbs everywhere that if everybody's got really you know, awesome prosthetics, 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:03.440 it's probably not even gonna be visible. And if you know, 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:05.920 and if it is visible, you'll say, hey, they really 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.320 take care of those guys after they took one for 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:12.680 the team. Right, And just to emphasize the motions on 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.720 this particular pro digit device, I mean, you can write 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:18.640 with it. I read one thing where the guy said 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.120 that his handwriting was in facted better than it was before, 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:22.960 so he was very pleased with this. All some of 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:25.480 us have really bad handwriting. So I mean, would you 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:30.439 include yourself? Yeah? Yeah. One thing I found really interesting 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:35.080 about about amputees is apparently about half of them, according 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.640 to a two tho article on the US Navy website, 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:42.680 suffer from um phantomal impain. Right, So this is pain 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:44.560 that feels like it's coming from a body part that's 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.640 no longer they're according to the Mayo Clinic. And according 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.440 to the clinic, this type of pain was once considered psychological. 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:52.480 You know, people, I don't know about that. But now 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.920 we figured out that these um sensations originate in the 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.240 spinal cord in the brain. And I read a really 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.440 cool New Yorker article about this a wild back, and 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.520 it was profiling a behavioral neurologist by the name of 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:08.240 A Villa Yaner Rama Chandron. Apologies to Dr rama Chandron 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:10.480 if I messed up your name. And he was working 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:12.880 on this phantom limp pain problem and he came up 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:15.840 with something called mirror therapy. Oh yeah, I've seen some 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.680 stuff about this. Yeah, right, so we know that phantom 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.360 limpain can be pretty cute, and uh so the neual 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:24.720 just had this idea to use mirror therapy. And what 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:28.920 this involves is that you hold up a mirror and 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.640 say you're missing a leg, and you hold up a 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.120 mirror next to your leg, and so it appears as 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.520 if you have two legs. For some reason, this UM 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.480 this helps out with your brain and the pain that 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.080 you're experiencing, and it seems to work, or at least 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.680 it reduces the pain too tolerable levels, and in some 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:50.280 people it may reduce the pain entirely. That's pretty cool. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.640 I mean, it's pretty innovative and a really simple therapy 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:54.440 that could be available to a lot of people. Who 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.200 do you need it? So we talked about phantom limpain. 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.720 I want to talk about something called apo to no ophelia. 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.120 Have you heard of this before today? Yeah? Yeah, this 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.600 is when I've read about a while back. This is 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.360 where you have this uh, this compulsion or even a 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:13.680 desire to amputate part of your body. Right right. So 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.960 there's a John Hopkins psychologist back in nineteen seven called 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:22.000 John Money. How awesome is that name? It's funny, especially 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:24.040 if you know he had a doctoral degree and he 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:27.160 could call himself doctor Money. Yeah. I never understand when 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.120 people have those weird names, like if like Dennis get 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.160 names like Dr Payne, like you know, I would consider 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.320 changing it. Yeah, yeah, or at least fellow with the way. 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:40.840 Did you ever see that Seinfeld with the practologist. Yeah? 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:44.800 What was his name? That's what I'm thinking of right now. 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.920 But anyway, um appa time Nophelia was also called the 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:54.400 body integrity identity disorder and also ampute identity disorder, and 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.520 it was submitted for inclusion in the d s M five. 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.240 Remember the DSM five. It's like the mental health Bible 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.680 where all the mental health illnesses get classified. Yeah, if 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.760 I remember correctly, this is one that, like some interpretations 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.040 of this, at least with some some people who suffer 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.360 from it, it sometimes stems from being like a really 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.200 high pressure situation where they feel like they need to 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:16.880 It's almost like you're you're expecting a lot of me, 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:18.560 but you would expect less of me if I was 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.200 missing a hand before, I have a compulsion to remove 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.760 set a hand. So I was sort of thinking a 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:28.360 similar to transgender folks, you know, along the lines of 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.920 feeling illinies in your own body, and then once you 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.280 remove a limb, you know, it's sort of you become yourself. 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:37.920 May you become at peace with yourself? It's I I 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.680 just it kind of blows my mind um to to 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.760 voluntarily seek out in operation where you might I want 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.440 to get rid of a limb. But there's a huge 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:47.560 black market for it, and of course the Internet has 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.000 a looted all sorts of people seeking these kinds of 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.720 operations too, So it's like a can dude on Craig's List. 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:54.400 It will come and chop your hand off if you 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:59.440 well know. Because obviously doctors have some have some legal 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:01.360 issues with but there was a doctor that I bait about. 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:03.720 I believe in Scotland he performed to such operations and 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:06.560 he said that these operations were some of the most 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.200 satisfying he performed in his life because he really feelt 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.920 like he was helping these people to become more comfortable 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:16.280 with themselves. I mean, I, having never experienced this particularly disorder, 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.480 I can't understand the compulsion, but I believe that it 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:21.920 must be a very strong compulsion. How could it not be, 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:24.960 I don't know, I see, I can't imagine how it 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:26.359 seems like that kind of thing would keep going to 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.439 be kind of like surgical addiction. You know. It's like 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.720 it's people are never happy with anything. You know. It's like, 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.680 you know, somebody gets the you know, an Xbox three sixty, 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:36.439 they're gonna want to p S three or something. You know. 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:38.439 It's like so it's like you lose one hand. I mean, 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.359 how is that going to make the person happy? Or 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.760 are they gonna have to lose another hand? Now? I 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:45.160 don't know. I'm always wanting more. So It's like if 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:47.880 there's a dude out there that like cutting his hand 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:49.560 off makes him happy for the rest of his life. 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:52.399 Like I can't think of anything else in life that 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:57.280 like does that for anybody? You know, like sheer happiness 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.240 for that one operational. I mean, if it works, then 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:03.200 God bless him. But I have my doubts. Yeah, well, 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.159 so I'm just saying I'm not going to do it. 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:07.760 I'm not going to cut my hand off, just in 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.840 case you're wondering. I wasn't. Well, because you need him 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:12.960 for typing all of this, I do. Yeah, but of 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:16.199 course you could. You could type with your new prosthetic device. 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.520 So yeah, I'm thing to be like a hunting packs. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:21.720 It would just be like one finger you hunting packed. 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:26.359 Oh lord, that's so slow, I wandered producer Jerry huntson 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:31.639 Packs producer Jerry. Oh, producer, Jerry, you said pretty Sue, Jerry, 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:36.320 Like pretty ser Jerry, You've just forgotten about it because 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:38.280 we can't see her anymore. It still sounds like you said, 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.080 it's the new headphones. I'm hearing pretty Sue Jerry. Well, 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:45.560 it sounds kind of like a pimp or something, you know. Yeah, 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.359 so listen, if you're not going to get a prosthetic limb, 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:50.679 you could always get a hand transplant. Would you be 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.080 interested in one of these? Um? Yeah, I was missing 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:55.879 a hand and someone was like, we can give you 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.840 another hand. Then I would what would you choose, Which 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:02.280 would you choose fetic in a real hand, My current 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:04.720 self would choose a real hand, my like ten year 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:07.800 old self, which is like a robotic hand with lasers. 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:09.600 So you might be interested to know a little bit 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.240 about the current state of hand transplants. And I learned 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.720 about them courtesy of Emory Healthcare, which is here in Atlanta. 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:21.000 So the technical name is composite tissue allow transplantation, and 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.840 that just means the transplantation of limbs and other intact 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.479 body parts. And this is a really complicated process, right, 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:30.000 because there's a lot of stuff to reattach right right, 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:32.080 I mean you're talking about bits of bone that may 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:34.240