Technology changing prosthetics
Technology is opening up new possibilities for amputees and with the prospect of bionic limbs becoming a reality, midlands regional manager Laura Hillas explains just how much personalising goes into a modern prosthetic limb.
Tucked away beside Waikato Hospital, the Artificial Limb Centre caters to nearly 1000 amputees, including a number of Paralympians.
Ms Hillas acts as both an administrator and prosthetist for the service, and said for many, prosthetics are still a mysterious area of medicine.
"People are just interested in prosthetics. It seems an unusual part of healthcare that nobody realised had actually happened. People are just fascinated with it."
Ms Hillas said most people would assume that hers was a depressing position.
"It's exactly the opposite. These people have had the amputation to save their life or to get rid of pain and sometimes they have been in a really bad place and this is the first step of their rehabilitation and getting them back to what they want to do."
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