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Spinal Cord Stimulation Eases Pain, Boosts Function for People With Prosthetic Legs

People who've lost a leg due to injury or disease are often plagued by what's known as phantom limb pain -- discomfort arising in the area, despite the absence of the limb.

Now, researchers report that people who wear a prosthetic leg after amputation may have that pain eased, as well as improved sensation in their new foot, using spinal cord stimulation.

“We are using electrodes ...

Got PAD? Income, Race Could Affect Outcomes Such as Amputation

Patients with a common vascular disease that causes blockages in their leg vessels had both worse symptoms and outcomes if they were Black or poor, new research finds.

The study from Michigan Medicine looked at more than 7,000 patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) who had a lower extremity bypass operation to improve circulation. PAD involves plaque blocking the vessels that ca...

Doctors Convert Veins Into Arteries to Spare Patients Amputations

Cynthia Elford had recently lost her left leg to type 1 diabetes, after a sunburned big toe turned nearly black and forced an amputation.

Now, Elford was being told the same thing was happening in her right leg.

“I went to clip the toenail on the big toe of my right leg and I nipped my skin, just nipped it, and it was enough that it didn't heal,” said Elford, 63, of Hermitage, P...

Archaeologists Discover Evidence of Surgical Amputation Performed 30,000 Years Ago

Skeletal remains of a young adult discovered in a remote cave in Borneo appear to be the oldest known case of surgical amputation.

Australian and Indonesian researchers estimate the bones are at least 31,000 years old. It appears that the young adult lost his foot and lower leg in childhood and lived for at least six to nine more years after that, they said.

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  • By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • September 12, 2022
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  • Full Page
  • Medicare's Free Wellness Visit Can Prevent Diabetes Amputation

    Annual wellness visits covered by Medicare reduce diabetes patients' risk of amputation by more than one-third, a new study finds.

    "Our results confirmed our hypothesis that Annual Wellness Visits are associated with a reduced risk of major lower-extremity amputations, highlighting the importance of con...

    A 'Bionic' Arm That Feels Like Her Very Own

    Former Marine Cpl. Claudia Mitchell can hold a banana or a water bottle in her left hand without squishing it as she opens it.

    She can use her left hand to help cut peaches for a pie. She can hold someone's hand without squeezing too hard, and she can grab her makeup bag with just her thumb and forefinger.

    Years ago, Mitchell, 41, wouldn't have imagined any of these feats were possi...

    Diabetes-Linked Amputations: Your Race, State Matters

    Poorly controlled diabetes can lead to amputations of toes, feet or legs, though it isn't inevitable.

    But your race and where you live might play a big part in whether amputation is your fate if you are diagnosed with the blood sugar disorder, new research suggests.

    "If you go to the experts that are there to help you live a [healthy] lifestyle with diabetes, this does not have to h...

    Alligator Attack Nearly Cost This Firefighter Dad His Arm

    You might not believe it, but Florida firefighter Carsten Kieffer was incredibly lucky when a 12-foot alligator leapt into his boat and chomped down on his right forearm.

    Just about no one else thought so, and that went double for Kieffer: Both main bones in his arm were broken, and a big bite had been taken out of the back of his forearm. After the attack, the arm essentially dangled fro...

    Injuries Shoot Up After Fireworks Laws Loosened in West Virginia

    West Virginia loosened fireworks sales rules in 2016. And since then, the state has seen a 40% boom in fireworks-related injuries, researchers say.

    The regulation change made it easier for people to buy Class C fireworks such as Roman candles, bottle rockets and fountains.

    "Since there has been a trend among states to liberalize these laws, I think it is wise for states ...

    Obamacare Linked to Fewer Leg Amputations for Minorities

    There's been a significant drop in diabetes-related lower leg amputations among non-white patients in states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, a new study finds.

    About one-third of people with diabetes develop a foot ulcer, which is the most common cause of foot infection and leg amputation. More than half who have a diabetes-related leg amputation die within five years -- a rat...

    To Prevent Injuries, Give Your Kids a Pass on Cutting the Grass

    Asking your child to mow the lawn is a risky proposition, a new study suggests.

    About 9,400 American kids are injured by lawn mowers each year, and mowers cause 12% to 29% of all traumatic amputations among them, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Toe and foot amputations are the most common.

    "Lawn mower injuries are largely preventable, but d...

    Heart Attacks, Strokes Are Declining Among People With Diabetes

    An Australian study has good news for people with type 2 diabetes -- fewer people with diabetes are having heart attacks and strokes compared to 20 years ago.

    Heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular complications have declined in the general population, too. But the decreases among people with diabetes have outpaced those for the general population, the researchers said.

    ...

    High-Tech Prosthetic Arm Melds With Patient's Anatomy

    A new "mind-controlled" prosthetic arm can allow amputees to regain a sense of touch and move through their daily lives more easily, researchers report.

    The success story involves just three patients in Sweden. But all have lived with the artificial limb for three to seven years -- using it for everything from work to skiing, canoeing and ice fishing.

    Unlike conventional arm...

    'It's Like You Have a Hand Again': New Prosthetic Gets Closer to the Real Thing

    A brain-controlled robotic arm gives users precise hand control that enables them to do more complicated things intuitively than they could with a conventional prosthetic, researchers say.

    "It's like you have a hand again," said study participant Joe Hamilton, who lost his arm in a fireworks accident in 2013. "You can pretty much do anything you can do with a real hand with that hand....

    U.S. Veterans With Blocked Leg Arteries Seeing Better Results

    Fewer U.S. veterans are having leg amputations or dying due to serious blockages in leg arteries, a new study finds.

    These blockages are called critical limb ischemia (CLI). They can cause severe leg pain, wounds that don't heal and poor quality of life, according to the study published recently in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions.

    "All patients w...

    AHA News: Research Opens New Avenues to Reduce Foot, Toe Amputations

    Emerging research may help doctors devise better ways to prevent some of the tens of thousands of amputations unrelated to traumatic injury that occur in the U.S. each year.

    Diabetes is the leading cause of nontraumatic lower limb amputations, including of the toe and foot. That's partly because diabetes increases risk of peripheral artery disease, or PAD, a narrowing of major blood ...

    Toes Become Fingers in the Brains of 'Foot Painters'

    If you use your feet like hands from birth, the brain will create a different "map" of the toes that's more like the one it has for the fingers, new research reveals.

    That's the case with Tom Yendell and Peter Longstaff, two foot artists in the United Kingdom who were born with no hands and paint with their feet.

    Researchers compared functional MRI images of their brains to...

    New Prosthetic Leg Can Feel Touch, Reduce 'Phantom Limb' Pain

    After losing a lower leg, Savo Panic received a prosthetic limb that helped restore movement. But prostheses are imperfect, and he suffered tremendous "phantom" leg pain.

    Now, European scientists say they've developed a technology that restores natural feeling and improves walking in patients who've had a lower leg amputation. The approach also eliminated phantom pain in Panic and red...

    Small Vessel Disease Leaves Patients Vulnerable to Leg Amputation

    No matter where it occurs in the body, microvascular disease ups the risk of leg amputation, a new study finds.

    Microvascular disease damages very small blood vessels.

    Researchers analyzed data from more than 125,000 U.S. veterans who were followed for an average of nine years.

    During follow-up, those with microvascular disease had a 3.7-times increased risk of leg...