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Health: Newest Bionic Hand Activated By Special App


by Stephanie Stahl

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -  A technology breakthrough that's giving amputees new abilities.  3 On Your Side Health Reporter Stephanie Stahl shows us this amazing development.  There is a new app for bionic hands that give amputees more movement and independence.

Jason Koger's bionic hands have special abilities.  His fingers move independently and can conform around objects.  He doesn't just grab an orange, his fingers wrap around it, and he even has a few tricks up his sleeve.

"I think these hands are amazing how they work," said Jason.  And now he can do even more with a new app, the i-limb ultra revolution.  Jason, who lost his arms in an accident, can choose 24 different grip patterns on his phone.

"It means a lot to me to be able to do some of those things,  some of those smaller things, like something as simple as holding my kids hands," said Jason.

In the past Jason would have to go to an office to have the hand programmed for different grips, now he can do that anywhere on his iPhone or his iPad.

"It gives him greater dexterity, and it widens his options for how to pick something up," said Ryan Spill, with Advanced Arm Dynamics.

Jason is the first to use the new app, and is showing the technology to other amputees, like Mark Dowling, who lost his arm to cancer in November.

"I feel emasculated cause I can't do what I normally do around the house," said Mark.  He has started the long process of being fitted with a new bionic arm and hand, and is amazed and relieved to see all that it will be able to do.

"Ryan has shown me something that I never thought possible," said Mark.

Prosthetics are advancing quickly, in part because of increased government research in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For more information:

Advanced Arm Dynamics

Jason Koger Information

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