What awaits Roman Kostomarov: Russians with prosthetic limbs spoke about their lives

About what prostheses exist and are offered by our medicine, the orthopedist, mechanic-rehabilitator Nino Kapanadze told.

– A lot of people draw their ideas about modern orthoprosthetics either from the old movie about the war, or vice versa, from fictional fiction, – says Nino. – I often encounter the fact that people, realizing what has happened, fall into despair, not so much because of the loss of arms or legs. And, as I call it, the fear of the “bone leg”. I see these symptoms right away, I have been working for 18 years.

At the other extreme, people have heard or read something about bionics controlled by the power of thought, and require electrodes to be implanted in the brain.

Ours today is biomechanics. These are, depending on the model and purpose, complex metal-plastic-latex or plastic-latex prostheses of the hand, arm from the elbow or foot, leg from the knee.

Full arms and legs are also there, but this is a more complicated story. There are also simple traction prostheses and simpler mechanical ones. Bionics in its direct sense is not provided under the IPRI programs (individual rehabilitation program for the disabled – Ed.), there is biomechanics or conventional mechanics. Although not everything is simple with biomechanics either because of the sanctions and the departure of companies. On the other hand, according to the IPRI, several prostheses are required for each: the main one, the aesthetic one, the overlays on the main one … Many still buy functional attachments.

In general, with a prosthetic arm or leg, people lead an active life, go about their daily lives and hobbies, and go to work. But for the time being, prostheses cannot completely replace the lost limb, there are still limitations.

Patients of the rehabilitation and prosthetics center shared their stories with MK.

“I lost my arm up to the elbow in a car accident,” says 32-year-old Elena from Moscow. – I was driving with a taxi driver and we had an accident, I was pinched. Right hand. I was horrified, depressed. I am right-handed and work on a computer.

But my husband and all my family were very supportive. The specialists clearly outlined all the prospects – that I could continue to work, and at home, and I could do almost everything, as before … Exercise therapy to prepare for the prosthesis, for example, I started doing it while lying down, as soon as I was sent here (they operated at another hospital). I endured, did even more than the doctor prescribed me – both sitting then and standing. But still, full rehabilitation and getting used to it, mastering the prosthesis took me six months.

Now that two more years have passed, life is fully adjusted. My German prosthetic hand allows me to type on a PC, to grip to hold any object, or to peel vegetables, for example. I just can’t thread a needle. I could probably scribble on a typewriter, but I don’t like it. Most of the operations needed in life – please.

I paint in the morning, cook, draw, even swim in the pool, the prosthesis is waterproof. At work, some people don’t even know that I don’t have a hand, I don’t advertise. I wear long sleeves, and the material on top of the liner is good, it looks like leather. And now my husband calls me “Captain Hook” with humor. For various cases, hand attachments are sold so that the mechanics do not drive in vain. I have a hook for example. For cleaning, there is such a nozzle with a hole where a mop or a pipe from a vacuum cleaner can be placed, there is a grip for a scoop, I dig with it in the country. And a friend, he does not have both feet – nozzles-fins.

In general, of course, it is not easy for a person with such an injury to live, there are still things that a healthy person will not even think about. My brush can not fit into any sleeve, for example, and it gets stuck in tight clothes, because the latex does not slide over the fabric. And it’s easier for me to do something with my other hand than with a prosthesis, nevertheless. Scratch, for example, the hand of the prosthesis does not spin as much as that of a real hand. I learned by myself that everyone can become an ambidexter during training (a person who is equally good at right and left hands – Auth.)

Marina, the wife of another patient, agreed to tell how the family experienced the loss of her husband’s leg from vascular blockage and subsequent necrosis of the limb.

– Igor does not like to tell this, and is busy now, – says his wife, according to her, “lived” this story with him. – We lost a leg due to atherosclerosis of the vessels, which led to ischemia and necrosis. In general, I had to amputate the leg to the knee, then even higher. The husband was 38 years old.

For everyone, of course, this was a shock, his leg hurt, he was limping, but he did not go to the doctor for a long time. Went to the hospital, but it was too late. I did not work at that time, I was on the second decree. But Igor immediately said – I will get up.

Frankly, it cost us a lot of nerves and efforts to “break through” for him an “electronic knee” on microprocessors. They say that now it has become even more difficult, we did it in 2021. But without this, it is impossible to install a modern knee module. Which, in turn, allows you to fully control the foot. In order for the toes to move, the toe-heel imitated the movements when walking. As a result, we paid for the processor ourselves, almost all of our savings went there. But for the biomechanical prosthesis itself, which “communicates” with the muscles that survived on the thigh through the knee module, we almost did not pay. It is American, we only bought the aesthetics ourselves.

I can say that the whole process took about a year for my husband. The stump healed for a long time, the vessels were put in order. But in order to put this prosthesis on him, the husband lost 21 kilograms. He was tall and full. After the story with the leg, he took up himself. He is engaged in race walking, strength exercises, and can also play football. But heavier loads for the joints are not shown to him – “iron” in the gym to pull, for example, and even running. Controls stress, monitors blood pressure, cholesterol. He has a cool “cyborg prosthesis”, in the end, there are functions like on a fitness bracelet: a pedometer, pressure, and some other little things. At first, my husband had a lot of fun with this, synchronized it with his phone and computer, followed it through applications, then it was a curiosity …

In general, I can say that my husband leads the same lifestyle as before the amputation. It works the same way. In some ways, he even has a healthier lifestyle. Of the minuses, in addition to the high cost, I would note the small capacity of the battery. You can’t even go into the water with his prosthesis, and he loved to swim very much. Well, and some awkwardness, although he had it before, it is difficult to gracefully move with his height. He himself sometimes laughs that he learned to walk four times: in childhood, then with a sample prosthesis, then with a training one, then with his own. But he didn’t really learn: either he will touch something, then he will attach his forehead to the opening.

And we, of course, are afraid of the time when it will be necessary to change the prosthesis to a new one. “Legs” wear out faster than “arms”. The situation is such that there is already little on the market and prices are rising. We have already agreed that we will not touch the knee module for now, and you can try the domestic one as well.

By the way, the neighbors in the ward and on the floor did not share our desire to install biomechanics. Older men willingly took both simple mechanics and even modular prostheses – an imitation of a leg and a foot on a hinge. And we, of course, understood that bionics controlled by brain neurons and a sensory foot would not shine for us. But still I wanted to do the maximum possible for my husband. And he himself says: “The new leg is two-thirds like the real one.”