After 31 years Zac Vawter lost part of his leg in a motorcycle accident, a team of doctors decided to create a new type of prosthesis: one whose movements he could handle with his mind, with "flex" one foot was gone. The method is similar to that tried in people who have lost an arm: Doctors at North-West University and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago pulled muscles damaged nerves in the amputated leg and connected Vawter in the thigh muscle in the thigh, which had been left intact. When Vawter imagined moving his missing leg, his thoughts have caused various models contraction of the thigh was left. Electrodes stuck to his skin picked up the signals and relayed to sensors on the prosthesis (above), who played the way he wanted to move. The result, described today The New England Journal of Medicine , was not perfect. Vawter sometimes stumbled, but he was able to walk safely outside, climbing stairs, and kick a ball. The authors note that there are still challenges to refine the technique, partly because the electrodes can get uncomfortable.
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