Opposites Don't Attract When Learning to Use a Prosthesis
From: Medical Design Technology - 10/09/2015

New research suggests that upper limb amputees, who typically struggle to
learn how to use a new prosthesis, would be more successful if fellow
amputees taught them. Most usually learn by watching a non-amputee
demonstrate the device during physical therapy and rehabilitation sessions. A
Georgia Institute of Technology study that measured arm movements and
analyzed brain patterns found that people do better when they learn from
someone who looks like them. The paper is published in the journal
Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair.

Prior research found that as many as 75 percent of amputees consider their
prosthesis to be primarily aesthetic, and 33 percent reject the device
because it’s not practical. Poor training and a bad first experience are
often listed as reasons they eventually quit wearing the device.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.mdtmag.com/news/2015/10/opposites-dont-attract-when-learning-use-prosthesis

Links:
Enhanced Neurobehavioral Outcomes of Action Observation Prosthesis Training
http://nnr.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/10/01/1545968315606992.abstract

Upper limb prosthesis use and abandonment: a survey of the last 25 years
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17979010