Child prosthetics – a perspective

Abstract

Research into myoelectric upper-limb prosthetics has focussed on algorithmic approaches to decoding muscle signals. A cursory search of PubMed indicates that the ratio of upper-limb myoelectric papers focussed on prosthesis control to those which mention children is approximately twenty to one. Of those papers which mention children, only a subset focus on paediatric upper-limb prostheses. A similar ratio exists between control algorithms publications and research on myoelectric upper-limb sockets. These disparities are likely to reflect differences in the barriers to entry for various types of research, and the overall time commitments necessary to obtain and validate sufficient data for publication.The majority of information surrounding myoelectric upper-limb prosthetics for children is anecdotal. This reflects the fact that active upper-limb prosthetics is a relatively small field, both clinically and academically, of which paediatrics is an even smaller section. As the overall area is small, technical research, whether performed in academia, commercial enterprises or by non-profits, very rarely reaches or involves the clinical teams necessary to validate developments and evidence efficacy.This chapter summarises conversations between researchers working in healthcare and academia linked through membership of the Starworks network, a UK National Institute for Health Research initiative to accelerate the translation of child prosthetics research into daily use. Specifically, it aims to unpack challenges identified by the network and critically analyse the current 'state of the art' in relevant upper limb myoelectric prostheses areas, informed by multiple perspectives. Each section outlines an area of emerging influence over the past decade which is likely to remain influential over the next. It begins with a brief introduction to the Starworks Network and concludes with recommendations from the authors.