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Prosthetic hands are easier to control using unrelated muscles

Muscle movements that seem unrelated to the motion being attempted with a prosthetic hand seem to give better control than intuitive muscle movements

By Clare Wilson

9 April 2024

An advanced prosthetic limb called the i-LIMB Quantum Hand

Able-bodied people were trained to use a prosthetic limb called the i-LIMB Quantum Hand

Hunter Schone

Prosthetic hands are usually designed to be operated by the same muscles that would be used if the person had their natural hand, but a small study suggests that using unrelated muscles instead could ultimately lead to better control.

“The field needs to change,” says at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. “People can learn to do new things remarkably well and we can leverage that learning.”

Most prosthetic hands in use today are either rigid or allow just a simple open-and-closing…

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