Paige Edwards, 14, was born with what her prosthetic doctor calls remnant digits on her right hand. That means her palm is intact but the fingers are too small to grasp most things another teenage girl can. Her special difference has never gotten her down, though, in fact, she’s molded a remarkably ordinary routine for herself, made even easier with her new ProDigits by TouchBionics.
`It helps me do stuff I’ve never been able to do before. The first day I had it we went on a field trip and my friend had a water bottle. All I did was practice holding and opening it. A big thing for me is doing stuff so simple like everyone else,` said Edwards, of Lake George.
Edwards recently attended her last fitting at Prosthetic and Orthotic Associates in Middletown so now all that’s left to complete her bionic transformation is to get fitted for LivingSkin, a silicone material that looks realistic and covers the otherwise mechanical looking fingers. Edwards said sensors pick up on what her smaller fingers or hand is trying to do, so if she pinches the prosthetic hand pinches, if she gives a `thumbs up,` the fingers do too.
While having a fully functional right hand is exciting and convenient, Edwards said she’s found ways to adapt to life before her bionic fingers came into the picture.
`I’ve had it since I was born, so I adapted to everything. I was supposed to be right-handed but had to be left-handed. A lot of active stuff I used my wrist for, like monkey bars I use my wrists. I do have some motion so I can grab something little,` said Edwards. `Some things were harder to accept than others but I just got used to it, I guess.`
She got so used to it that she said her friends often forget she’s any different than them.
`My friends will be talking to me and I’ll have an ice cream cone in one hand and they’ll ask me to hold theirs for a second and then they feel bad because they forgot [I can’t],` said Edwards. `I don’t ever remember a time where it was something negative in my life, I always made it something positive.`
Edwards first saw ProDigits on the Today Show and quickly urged her mother to look into it. After finding out a friend from California with the same type of hand as hers was getting fitted, Edwards’ mom found the Hudson Valley practice that could fit her with ProDigits of her own.
`This particular form of electronic ‘bionic’ prosthesis for a finger are really relatively brand new and have only been available to the world community for one year this month. Prior to that, for something like this young woman, there really was nothing available to allow her to be able to pick up an apple or orange; not technically small enough to actually bend and extend like fingers do,` said Tom Passero, her prosthetic doctor. `She’s one of the first 150 people in the world getting this technology and the first in the Hudson Valley.`
Passero’s company has been involved, accidently he said, since the very first whisperings of ProDigits began circulating throughout a global clinical team around two years ago. The prosthetic fingers were developed by engineers and clinicians in Scotland by a company called TouchBionics, which introduced the first bionic hand, a precursor to ProDigits. What TouchBionics didn’t have, though, was a covering that looked like real skin. Passero did, having developed the product LivingSkin himself, so the companies merged, making Prosthetic and Orthotic Associates one of a few dozen in the world that know how to fit for bionic fingers.
Besides convenience, ProDigits will cut down on health risks Edwards could have faced.
`Someone who uses their one hand all the time for opening and closing and grasping, is at risk of overuse or repetitive stress injury these will enable her hold objects in both hands and decrease with stress and strain on her natural hand that she’s been using almost exclusively for 14 years. That’s roughly 28 years of use on knuckles, joints, everything,` said Passero.
Edwards only wears ProDigits at school, except during gym, and then takes them off at home. She’s looking forward to doing a few things she couldn’t do before.
`One thing was cutting my meat; I always have my parents cut my meat for me. Another thing was being able to do two things at once, like use a hairdryer and hairbrush. I couldn’t do that before,` said Edwards.
She used to get questions like `does it hurt` from curious classmates, but not anymore.
`Now after everyone has seen it, they’re like ‘Oh my God, that’s awesome,’` said Edwards.
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