Prosthetics

Replacing what was lost. A wooden toe from an Egyptian burial, the iron hand of Gotz von Berlichingen, the limb workshops that grew after every war, Roehampton, the American limb trade and its patents, and the modern line from Stoke Mandeville and Ludwig Guttmann through osseointegration and running blades. The people wearing the limbs are here as much as the limbs themselves.

Part of Orthopedics

109 moments in this segment.

  1. - Left Hand Prosthetic at the Art Institute of Chicago. Late 16th century left hand prosthetic (iron hand) from the George F. Harding Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. Gotz von Berlichingen was a sixteenth century German knight whose prosthetic iron hands survive.
  2. - Prosthesis, 16th century; A. Pare. Prosthesis, 16th century;. Pare. Ambroise Pare revived the ligature of arteries in amputation in place of hot cautery. He did not invent it: Galen used it and al-Zahrawi described it, and it was largely lost in medieval Europe.
  3. - Berlichingen Eiserne Hand 2. Iron Hand (Prosthesis) of Götz von Berlichingen, originally from c. 1510, 19th century steel engraving. Gotz von Berlichingen was a sixteenth century German knight whose prosthetic iron hands survive.
  4. - Iron artificial arm, Europe, 1560-1600. The left forearm and hand of this prosthetic arm are fully articulated. Gotz von Berlichingen was a sixteenth century German knight whose prosthetic iron hands survive.
  5. - Iron artificial arm, 1560-1600.. From the original description of the Science Museum London: “Artificial iron arm, once thought to have been owned by Götz von Berlichingen (1480-1562), the German knight and adventurer who served with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V against the Turks. Gotz von Berlichingen was a sixteenth century German knight whose prosthetic iron hands survive.
  6. - Illustration of artificial limbs. Photograph of an illustration of an artifical hand and arm. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  7. - A man in ragged clothes walking with two crutches and a wooden leg. Etching by Jan Georg van der Vliet, c. 1632.
  8. - A soldier with one arm debates with a sailor with a wooden leg the merits of the army and the navy. Reproduction of an etching by I. & G. Cruikshank, 1806.
  9. - A man with an artificial arm selling live haddock from a basket he suspends from the hook on his left shoulder. Etching by J.T. Smith, 1815.
  10. - An itinerant salesman with artificial arms selling the bootlaces that hang from the hooks of his hands. Etching by J.T. Smith, 1816.
  11. - An old sailor with wooden leg relates his adventures to a family as both men smoke and drink. Reproduction of an etching by G. Cruikshank, 1818, after J. Sheringham.
  12. - Aritificial peg leg, Europe, 1850-1900. Made from painted black wood with leather straps which attached to the waist, this artificial limb was made for someone whose leg had been amputated above the knee. Crutches, calipers and walking supports are the everyday apparatus of orthopedic care and are far more numerous in the visual record than any operation.
  13. - Socket leg and artificial leg below the knee. Bigg, Henry Heather H.H. Bigg, On artificial limbs: their construction and application; London: John Churchill, 1855. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  14. - Specification of Henry Wilms : artificial limbs.. "an artificial leg, arm, and hand, on an improved construction". State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  15. - Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Afb ANWC00389000001. Beschrijving Portret van E. Jansen, wonende Laurierstraat 24, in de Schelvisgang Opschrift: 'E. Jansen. The Cairo or Greville Chester toe, an artificial big toe of wood and leather from ancient Egypt, is generally cited as among the earliest known functional prostheses.
  16. - Illustration of artificial limbs and crutches, 1863. Illustration published in John Weiss & Son: A catalogue of surgical instruments, apparatus, appliances, etc., London : M.S. Rickerby, printer, 1863. Crutches, calipers and walking supports are the everyday apparatus of orthopedic care and are far more numerous in the visual record than any operation.
  17. - Illustration of an artificial arm designed by de Beaufort. Photograph of an illustration of artificial arm with moveable fingers designed by de Beaufort in 19th century. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  18. - A disabled soldier has his wooden legs stolen by four Irishmen in a bar. Colour lithograph by H.G. Banks, ca. 1899.. "me" spent all their money drinking beer in a pub with an ex-Highland soldier called Patsy Callaghan, who had had his legs shot off from under his kilt when at war. The wooden leg is the commonest prosthesis in the historical visual record, and most surviving images of it are of working people rather than of clinical fittings.
  19. - A man sells a woman an artificial leg at national health service prices. Colour photomechanical reproduction of a lithograph by N. Dorville, c. 1901.
  20. - The Ceratopsia (1907). Plate from The Ceratopsia Identifier: ceratopsia00hatc (find matches), 1907 by Hatcher, J. B. (John Bell); Lull, Richard Swann; Osborn, Henry Fairfield; Marsh, Othniel Charles (Washington, Govt. The modern prosthetics story is heavily marketed and heavily inspirational in tone.
  21. - Turner-type knee splint, London, England, 1915-1918. This leather and steel splint was made at the Military Orthopaedic Hospital in Shepherds Bush, London. Splinting and bandaging to immobilise a fracture is attested for at least three thousand years, in Egyptian, Greek, Indian and Chinese practice alike, long before the word orthopaedics existed.
  22. - Medical Department - Restoration Work - Reconstruction - American workmen make new limbs for British Tommies at the Roehampton hospital workshops near London. Scope and content: Original Caption: American workmen make new limbs for British Tommies at the Roehampton hospital workshops near London. Queen Mary's Hospital at Roehampton is the anchor of state limb-fitting at scale in Britain after the First World War, and of rehabilitation as a system.
  23. - Medical Department - Restoration Work - Apparatus - American workmen make new limbs for British Tommies at Roehampton (London) hospital and workshops. The Artificial limb expert, J.A. Swaine, of India. (...). Queen Mary's Hospital at Roehampton is the anchor of state limb-fitting at scale in Britain after the First World War, and of rehabilitation as a system.
  24. - Medical Department - Restoration Work - Reconstruction - American workmen make new limbs for British Tommies at the Roehampton hospital workshops near London. On the left M.V. Bonila of Kansas City, M. (...). Queen Mary's Hospital at Roehampton is the anchor of state limb-fitting at scale in Britain after the First World War, and of rehabilitation as a system.
  25. - Disabled Soldier's War Job- Producing Artificial Limbs, UK, c 1944 D17829. Queen Mary's Hospital at Roehampton is the anchor of state limb-fitting at scale in Britain after the First World War, and of rehabilitation as a system.
  26. - Diary of a Sergeant (1945) WW2 Rehabilitation of Amputee. Diary of a Sergeant, a 1945 American rehabilitation film featuring Harold Russell, who lost both hands in a training accident. Russell went on to win an Academy Award for The Best Years of Our Lives.
  27. - Diary of a Sergeant.
  28. - "DIARY OF A SERGEANT" WWII REHABILITATION OF AMPUTEE SOLDIER HAROLD RUSSELL 56744. Diary of a Sergeant, the 1945 rehabilitation film featuring Harold Russell. Russell lost both hands in a training accident and later won an Academy Award; he died in 2002.
  29. - An artificial hand holding a sheet of glass. Colour lithograph after G.R. Morris, 1945.
  30. - Army Prosthetics Research Laboratory, National Museum of Health and Medicine. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  31. - 1946 - WHAT S MY SCORE? DISABLED VETERANS VA FILM - ARCHIVE - FOOTAGE. What's My Score, a 1946 Veterans Administration film about disabled veterans. Postwar films framed disability in terms of employability.
  32. - Wearing prosthetic (NCP 002862), National Museum of Health and Medicine. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  33. - War Disabled Man Starts Pottery Business (1948). British Pathé film of 1948 on a war-disabled man starting a pottery business. Retraining schemes were the standard state answer to permanent disability from war injury.
  34. - Disabled War Veterans Demonstrate In Italy (1948). British Pathé footage of disabled war veterans demonstrating in Italy in 1948. Disabled veterans organised politically across postwar Europe over pensions and provision.
  35. - French Disabled (1948). British Pathé footage from 1948 of disabled French veterans. Limb provision and pensions were contested across postwar Europe.
  36. - ARTIFICAL LIMB CENTRE - NO SOUND. British Movietone footage of an artificial limb centre, without sound. State limb centres were built in Britain after both world wars.
  37. - Stoke Mandeville Spinal Unit's Sports Festival Aka International Paraplegic Games (1955). British Pathé footage of the Stoke Mandeville sports festival of 1955, the International Paraplegic Games. The event grew directly out of Guttmann's spinal injuries unit.
  38. - SPORTS DAY AT STOKE MANDEVILLE. British Movietone newsreel of a sports day at Stoke Mandeville. Newsreel coverage of the games was part of how disability sport reached a general audience.
  39. - Jagsthausen Eiserne Hand Goetz von Berlichingen 19600704. Burg Jagsthausen was once home to the celebrated knight Götz von Berlichingen (1480-1562). Gotz von Berlichingen was a sixteenth century German knight whose prosthetic iron hands survive.
  40. - Making prosthetic hands, National Museum of Health and Medicine. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  41. - Making an artificial limb in the workshop at the Rehabilitation and Vocational Training Center at Qui Nhon. A Vietnamese worker constructs an artificial limb in the workshop at the Rehabilitation and Vocational Training Center at Qui Nhon NARA 111-CCV-451-CC74054. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  42. - British Modular Lower Limbs System (1974). Wellcome Library film of 1974 on the British modular lower limb system. Modular construction replaced individually crafted limbs and made fitting faster.
  43. - Avraham Stein lives in religious Kibbutz of Yavne (FL45835622). State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  44. - Myoelectric prosthetic arm. American actor Owen Wilson gripping Lance Cpl. Named modern prosthetic technologies include myoelectric control, osseointegration or direct skeletal attachment associated with Per-Ingvar Branemark, microprocessor knees, and energy-storing running feet of which the Flex-Foot associated with Van Phillips is the emblematic example.
  45. - Amputations and Artificial Limbs in the Civil War. On amputations and artificial limbs in the American Civil War. The scale of amputation in that war created the first mass artificial limb programmes in the United States.
  46. - Prosthetic hand iron and springs Oxford. Artificial hand (prosthesis), 16th century. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  47. - Exhibit, plastic gloves for artificial hands (NCP 4821), National Museum of Health and Medicine. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  48. - Patient using a prosthetic limb (Reeve 004265), National Museum of Health and Medicine. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  49. - Baker Monitor cast iron hand well pump Highland Recreation Area Michigan. "Monitor" brand cast iron hand well pump, manufactured by Baker Manufacturing Company of Evansville, Wisconsin, at the Highland State Recreation Area, Highland, Michigan. Gotz von Berlichingen was a sixteenth century German knight whose prosthetic iron hands survive.
  50. - "Spare Parts" Presentation by Jeff Sobil. Jeff Sobil presents Spare Parts at the Canadian Museum of Health Care. Museum limb collections document fitting practice as well as device design.
  51. - The Mandeville Legacy - Paralympics Documentary. The Mandeville Legacy on the origins of the Paralympic movement. Ludwig Guttmann organised the first Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948, on the day the London Olympics opened.
  52. - Port Moresby prosthetic limbs. Prosthetic limbs being manufactured in the Port Moresby General Hospital compound. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  53. - Margaret Maughan interview about meeting Sir Ludwig Guttmann. Margaret Maughan on meeting Sir Ludwig Guttmann. Maughan won Britain's first Paralympic gold medal in 1960 and died in 2020.
  54. - Afghanistan wheelchair basketball making history. Al Jazeera on wheelchair basketball in Afghanistan. Disability sport in countries with high rates of blast injury has a different origin from its European history.
  55. - Superhuman; exploring human enhancements from 600BCE to 2050
  56. - Surgical instruments and procedures. Various surgical instruments and procedures, including surgery of the nose. The modern prosthetics story is heavily marketed and heavily inspirational in tone.
  57. - Charlie’s War: An Interview With Second World War Amputee Veteran Charlie Jefferson (1924-2024). The War Amps interview with Second World War amputee veteran Charlie Jefferson, 1924 to 2024. The War Amps was founded by returning amputees themselves.
  58. - Fabrication process of artificial limbs. Fabrication of artificial limbs in India. The Jaipur foot uses locally available materials and can be made and fitted in a single day.
  59. - Patient fitting an artificial limb, Jaipur. A patient being fitted with an artificial limb in Jaipur. Fitting, not manufacture, is usually the limiting step in limb provision.
  60. - Making artificial limbs for amputees
  61. - Jaipur foot: Innovation for amputees. On the Jaipur foot as an innovation for amputees. It was developed in Rajasthan for users who walk barefoot, squat and work in wet conditions.
  62. - How prosthetics went from peg legs to biolimbs. Vox on the long arc from peg legs to powered limbs. Ancient prostheses survive, including the wooden and leather Cairo toe and the Greville Chester toe, both from Egypt.
  63. - Efforts to de-mine country and rehabilitate victims. AP Archive on de-mining and the rehabilitation of landmine victims. Blast amputation and limb fitting in mine-affected countries is contemporary practice.
  64. - Prosthetic limbs give hope to some in North Korea. AP Archive on prosthetic limb provision in North Korea. Limb fitting in low-resource and closed settings is a distinct problem from limb design.
  65. - Those We Served: Admiral Joe Sestak Walks in the Shoes of Pisey Tan, a Double Amputee Iraq War Vet. On Pisey Tan, a double amputee Iraq war veteran. Prosthetic provision for veterans is a state responsibility with a long and uneven history.
  66. - How 3-D-Printed Prosthetic Hands Are Changing These Kids’ Lives | Short Film Showcase. National Geographic on 3D printed prosthetic hands for children. Printed hands are cheap enough to replace as a child grows, which conventional prosthetics are not.
  67. - WWII WOUNDED VETERANS / ARTIFICIAL LIMBS FOR AMPUTEES 77054 Xx. American film on wounded Second World War veterans and artificial limbs. Rehabilitation films of this period were made to persuade the public as much as to inform patients.
  68. - The Case of the Legless Veteran: James Kutcher. On James Kutcher, an American veteran who lost both legs in the Second World War and was later dismissed from federal employment for his politics. Disability and civil rights intersect directly in his case.
  69. - Making Artificial Limbs More Comfortable | Nat Geo Live. National Geographic Live on making artificial limbs more comfortable. The socket interface, not the mechanism, is what most limb users report as the daily problem.
  70. - Paralympic history by Don Worley - Medical tests. Don Worley on medical testing in Paralympic history, from the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Classification began as a medical assessment carried out by clinicians.
  71. - Wounded Warriors: Amputee Veterans. Attitude on amputee veterans. Military limb loss drove prosthetic development in every major conflict of the twentieth century.
  72. - War and disAbility. Museum of Disability History on war and disability. Every major conflict of the twentieth century left a population of permanently disabled veterans and forced states to build services.
  73. - Unexpected Science - The iLimb. National Museums Scotland on the i-limb, an articulated myoelectric hand developed in Scotland. Myoelectric control reads muscle signals at the residual limb.
  74. - How It's Made: Prosthetic Limbs For Veterans | Forces TV. Forces News on how prosthetic limbs are made for veterans. Limb fitting for service casualties runs from the Roehampton workshops of the First World War to present military rehabilitation centres.
  75. - Scientists recreate sense of feeling for amputees. CBC on research to restore a sense of touch to amputees. Sensory feedback is a distinct research problem from motor control of a limb.
  76. - Plaster limbs being made - Jaipur Foot Foundation. Plaster limbs being made at the Jaipur Foot Foundation. The programme is run by Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti and fits limbs free of charge.
  77. - Beyond bionics: how the future of prosthetics is redefining humanity. The Guardian on bionics and the future of prosthetics. Claims made for advanced limbs are worth separating from what is routinely available to limb users through health services.
  78. - The history of the Paralympic Movement. National Paralympic Heritage Trust on the history of the Paralympic movement. The Trust holds the archive of the Stoke Mandeville games.
  79. - A Brief History of the Paralympic Games: From Post WWII Rehabilitation to Mega Sport Event. A brief history of the Paralympic Games from post-war rehabilitation to a global event. The movement originated as a medical rehabilitation programme rather than as sport.
  80. - The Vine Arm. National Museums Scotland on the Vine arm, an early articulated artificial arm. Named prosthetic designs entered the trade catalogues of the nineteenth century.
  81. - Artifact Spotlight: Dahlgren Leg. Naval History and Heritage Command on the Dahlgren leg. Named artefacts like this one attach a prosthesis to an identifiable person rather than to a device type.
  82. - Sophie Goggins - Prosthetics: From Maker to User. Sophie Goggins on prosthetics from maker to user. National Museums Scotland holds limbs alongside the records of the people who wore them, which is a different history from a device history.
  83. - OSSEOINTEGRATION with DR. ROZBRUCH - A Short Documentary. Short documentary on osseointegration with S. Robert Rozbruch. Attaching a limb directly to bone avoids the socket, which is the source of most day-to-day problems limb users report.
  84. - Pembuat Kaki Palsu. Prosthetic orthotics or prosthetic limb makers attach their artificial legs to people with disabilities at their studio workshop in the Ciputat Baru area, South Tangserang, Banten, Monday (14/10/2019). State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  85. - Arumugam Sridhar artificial limb workshop table TLMA project cr DC e263a5d8-8477-414d-99d3-185cb711677d. Support, therapy and treatment for Leprosy in India by the Leprosy Mission Australia. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  86. - This 3,000-Year-Old Wooden Toe Shows Early Artistry of Prosthetics. On the ancient Egyptian wooden toe prosthesis. The Greville Chester toe and the Cairo toe are the oldest surviving functional prostheses known.
  87. - Museum Remix: Unheard - Iron prosthetic hands. University of Cambridge Museums on iron prosthetic hands in its collections. The best known example of the type is the iron hand associated with the German knight Götz von Berlichingen.
  88. - "My father did start something amazing" | Sir Ludwig Guttmann | Rising Phoenix | Paralympic Games. Guttmann's daughter on his work, from the Rising Phoenix documentary. Guttmann's insistence that spinal injury patients could live active lives was against the clinical consensus of the 1940s.
  89. - 19th Century Prosthetic Limbs Through a Material Culture Lens. National Museum of Civil War Medicine on nineteenth century prosthetic limbs read as material culture. James Edward Hanger, an early Confederate amputee, went on to found a limb-making firm that still bears his name.
  90. - Audio book of Dr Guttmann's biography 'Spirit to Stoke Mandeville'. National Paralympic Heritage Trust on an audio book of Guttmann's biography. Guttmann died in 1980.
  91. - Science Museum offers vision of a bionic future sooner than we think. AP Archive at the Science Museum on a projected bionic future. Museum exhibitions of advanced prosthetics sit alongside collections of the limbs people actually wore.
  92. - 25 Years of the C-Leg Microprocessor Knee | Ottobock. Manufacturer film marking twenty-five years of the C-Leg microprocessor knee, and promotional in origin. The microprocessor knee arrived in the late 1990s and changed what above-knee limb users could do on slopes and stairs.
  93. - Mano del capitán Ripoll (20221102 123532). Replica of the aluminum prosthetic hand of Captain Antonio Ripoll Sauvalle, exhibited in the Historical Military Museum of Cartagena (Spain). State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  94. - Santa Maria del Cobre - Votive 2. Basilica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre ( Kuba ) - Innenraum: Prothesen als Votive für Heilungen. The modern prosthetics story is heavily marketed and heavily inspirational in tone.
  95. - Prosthetic control using implanted electrodes and osseointegration (OPRA). On prosthetic control using implanted electrodes with osseointegration. The OPRA system descends from Brånemark's work on bone bonding to titanium.
  96. - Following the breakthroughs in prosthetics | 60 Minutes. 60 Minutes on breakthroughs in prosthetics. The distance between research prototypes and limbs actually issued through health services is large.
  97. - How advancements in prosthetic technology allow feeling, control | 60 Minutes. 60 Minutes on prosthetic technology giving feeling and finer control. Sensory feedback is a distinct research problem from motor control.
  98. - 'Not disabled enough': The Paralympics and the fight for fairness | SBS Dateline. SBS Dateline on classification disputes in Paralympic sport. Classification descends from a medical assessment system and remains contested by athletes.
  99. - War-wounded Ukrainians get prosthetic limbs. AP Archive on war-wounded Ukrainians receiving prosthetic limbs. Limb loss from blast injury is a present-tense problem, not a historical one.
  100. - How Mind-Controlled Bionic Arms Fuse To The Body | WIRED. WIRED on mind-controlled bionic arms attached through the skeleton. Osseointegration derives from Per-Ingvar Brånemark's finding that bone bonds to titanium; Brånemark died in 2014.
  101. - Member Insider: Bespoke Bodies. National WWI Museum and Memorial on Bespoke Bodies, its prosthetics exhibition. The First World War produced limb amputation on a scale that forced states to build limb-fitting services.
  102. - A prosthesis maintenance day at the hackerspace (and more). Solarpunk illustration of a maker/hackerspace where people of various backgrounds, ages and abilities meet to create, fix things and learn from each other. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  103. - Protez-bacak-ottobock. An individual riding a bicycle using an Ottobock prosthetic leg. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  104. - The German neurosurgeon who created the Paralympics in an English village. CGTN Europe on Ludwig Guttmann, the German neurosurgeon who founded the Paralympic movement in an English village. He had fled Nazi Germany in 1939.
  105. - The History of the Paralympic Movement 🤓🎞️. Paralympic Games history of the movement. It began at Stoke Mandeville in 1948 with sixteen competitors and grew into a global event.
  106. - The pioneers of implantology - Episode 1: The discovery of osseointegration. Manufacturer series on the discovery of osseointegration by Per-Ingvar Brånemark, and promotional in origin. Brånemark found that titanium bonded to bone while studying bone healing in rabbits, and died in 2014.
  107. - L'Association Generale Des Mutiles De La Guerre. Renseigne. Reeduque. Place. Prete Sur L'Honneur. Procure Les Soins Chirurgicaux. Adhesions Mutiles De La Guerre. - DPLA - cd3ee671564f4fd77d2bc46294817. 530. The poster shows two soldiers - one having lost his right arm, the other wearing a prosthetic on his right leg and holding a scythe - shaking hands and wearing medals. State programmes to supply artificial limbs to veterans, from the American Civil War onward, are a major driver of the prosthetics industry.
  108. - How A Cheetah Revolutionized Human Potential? The Van Phillips Story. On Van Phillips and the design of the running blade. Phillips, himself an amputee, developed the Flex-Foot after losing a leg in a water-skiing accident.
  109. - Born With No Limbs: I Didn't Want To Be Their Poster Child! Briel Adams-Wheatley. Briel Adams-Wheatley, born without limbs, on refusing to be an inspirational figure. Disabled people's own accounts complicate the framing that prosthetics narratives usually impose.
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