The Story
When Mike was just 13 years-old, he received his first myoelectric hand – a big change from the split hook he’d had since birth. Mike said, “Cosmetically the split hook was terrible, and I was a child, so it wasn’t very pleasing to go to school with it. As soon I started using Myoelectric hands, it made a big difference to my confidence and to use it use was much easier.” 

But it wasn’t the perfect solution. After many years of wearing a Myoelectric hand, Mike began working as an electronics engineer testing new devices for the NHS. His job was demanding on the technology. He said, “As an electronics engineer, my old hand was used heavily for around 12 hours a day on electronics equipment. It was unreliable. The battery would break all the time, the hand would just stop working, and that meant I couldn’t go to work. It was always in for repair and it wasn’t suitable for the amount of work that I was using it for. It was at that same time the Myo Kinisi had just become available so Jake recommended it to me. I thought, what have I got to lose?” 

The Solution
With the decision made to give the new Steeper Myo Kinisi a go, Mike had a custom socket made with the electrodes placed in the most receptive areas to detect his muscle contractions. Mike opted for a friction wrist as the quick disconnect wrist in his previous prosthesis had proved unreliable. Jake was able to integrate the latest S-Charge battery system into the forearm of Mike’s new prosthesis and six weeks later, it was ready for him to use.

“I was quite a straightforward process. My old hand had been the same effectively for all those years, I wondered whether it would be a learning curve getting used to the Myo Kinisi, but actually, it was seamless! I just went straight to using it.”