Healthcare

Repairing the prosthetic science-policy rift: Challenges to improved access to and translation of prosthetic technologies

Francesca Riccio-Ackerman3 Laura Chicos , and Guillermo Herrera-Arcos

Francesca Riccio-Ackerman*, Laura Chicos, and Guillermo Herrera-Arcos

Edited by M.S. Suryateja Jammalamadaka and Jennifer A. Cascino

Review | Aug. 31 2023

*Email: friccioa@mit.edu

DOI: 10.38105/spr.4ffmn3soar

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Highlights

  • We outline a brief history of the technology and state of medical care for individuals with limb loss throughout several eras of innovation in the United States
  • We review current challenges to preventative and post-amputation prosthetic health access, as well as the racial and socioeconomic health disparities among individuals who experience limb loss
  • We explore scientifically-inspired solutions to bridge the gap between current and emerging advanced technology and health coverage that can expand patient access to prosthetic devices and services.

Article Summary

For millions affected by limb loss, policies that regulate the provision of prosthetic technologies dictate access and therefore mobility and function. Public perception of the prosthetic field and social pressure can encourage both technological development as well as movements to improve accessibility of prosthetic technologies as they have throughout American history. As the future of prosthetic sciences beckons, both medical advances and troubling health disparities warrant a review of current and emerging challenges to adoption and distribution of prosthetic technologies.

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This MIT Science Policy Review article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/.

Francesca Riccio-Ackerman

Biomechatronics Group, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Laura Chicos

Biomechatronics Group, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Guillermo Herrera-Arcos

Biomechatronics Group, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA