FES Investigator and Case Western Reserve University Assistant Professor Emily Gracyk PhD was interviewed by WKYC-TV Health Reporter Monica Robins on Sept. 22 about the groundbreaking work taking place at Case Western Reserve University and the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System.
The university and Cleveland VA have received close to $10 million in Department of Defense funding to conduct a pilot clinical trial of the revolutionary sensory-enabled prosthetic technology that’s been in development for more than a decade. The new trial represents the largest clinical trial of the technology. Dr. Graczyk and her team are one of the first such groups of researchers to study how to enhance prosthetics by adding the sense of touch.
Case and VA researchers have been doing this work for more than a decade, studying how to provide the sense of touch to those with limb loss. The work has also centered around how to equip prosthetics to communicate with the nervous system in a way the brain can understand, so that people can feel sensations from their missing limb. The researchers were also the first to conduct take-home trials of the prosthetics, allowing people to use them at home and in the community, in an effort to understand the impacts of the technology on quality of life.
Graczyk shared that the technology provides sensory feedback from the prosthesis in a way that people can interpret as physical touch, using implanted electrodes in the body around the same nerves linked to the missing limb. Participants have described the sensation as similar and also very informative in relation to using their prosthetic.
The team is now recruiting up to 12 people with upper limb loss for the study from Cleveland and throughout the country. Participants must meet certain conditions to be eligible and be willing to take part in certain trial requirements including using the device at home.
Those interested in being considered for the study can contact Jessica Jarvela at jrw20@case.edu.
