Prosthetic embodiment and body image changes in patients undergoing bionic reconstruction following brachial plexus injury
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Brachial plexus injuries with multiple-root involvement lead to severe and long-lasting impairments in the functionality and appearance of the affected upper extremity. In cases, where biologic reconstruction of hand and arm function is not possible, bionic reconstruction may be considered as a viable clinical option. Bionic reconstruction, through a careful combination of surgical augmentation, amputation, and prosthetic substitution of the functionless hand, has been shown to achieve substantial improvements in function and quality of life. However, it is known that long-term distortions in the body image are present in patients with severe nerve injury as well as in prosthetic users regardless of the level of function. To date, the body image of patients who voluntarily opted for elective amputation and prosthetic reconstruction has not been investigated. Moreover, the degree of embodiment of the prosthesis in these patients is unknown. We have conducted a longitudinal study evaluating changes of body image using the patient-reported Body Image Questionnaire 20 (BIQ-20) and a structured questionnaire about prosthetic embodiment. Six patients have been included. At follow up 2.5–5 years after intervention, a majority of patients reported better BIQ-20 scores including a less negative body evaluation (5 out of 6 patients) and higher vital body dynamics (4 out of 6 patients). Moreover, patients described a strong to moderate prosthesis embodiment. Interestingly, whether patients reported performing bimanual tasks together with the prosthetic hand or not, did not influence their perception of the prosthesis as a body part. In general, this group of patients undergoing prosthetic substitution after brachial plexus injury shows noticeable inter-individual differences. This indicates that the replacement of human anatomy with technology is not a straight-forward process perceived in the same way by everyone opting for it.
Date Issued
2021-04-30
Date Acceptance
2021-04-01
Citation
Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 2021, 15, pp.1-10
ISSN
1662-5218
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Start Page
1
End Page
10
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Neurorobotics
Volume
15
Copyright Statement
© 2021 Sturma, Hruby, Boesendorfer, Pittermann, Salminger, Gstoettner, Politikou, Vujaklija, Farina and Aszmann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
License URL
Sponsor
Commission of the European Communities
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000650015300001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
810346
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Robotics
Neurosciences
Computer Science
Neurosciences & Neurology
brachial plexus injury
bionic reconstruction
human-machine interfaces
upper limb amputation
prosthesis
body image
embodiment
bodily experience
QUESTIONNAIRE
DISABILITIES
AMPUTATION
SHOULDER
FKB-20
DASH
ARM
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 645261
Date Publish Online
2021-04-30