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Sydney Maciejewski
Purdue University
Running head: THE PROS OF PRINTED PROSTHETICS 2
Prosthetics have been changing the lives of the injured and disabled for centuries. A
prosthetic limb has the power to make an amputee feel as though they had never lost that limb in
the first place. There is no denying that prosthetics change lives for the better, but what happens
when a prosthetic limb is unattainable? What is a person to do when they simply can’t afford a
prosthetic or when a child grows out of one too fast to keep replacing it? A solution to all of
these problems is on the rise. 3D printing is an upcoming piece of technology that can
revolutionize the medical field and the world of prosthetics. 3D printed prosthetics are an
affordable, customizable, and timely solution to the problems that come with traditional
prosthetics.
The first 3D printer was patented in 1986 by Charles Hull. He developed a method of
printing called “stereolithography.” In “3D Printed Prosthetics Roll off the Press,”
stereolithography is described as a process that “uses a highly focused (via lenses and mirrors)
UV laser to trace out (solidify) cross sections of a 3D object in a vat of liquid photoactive
polymer” (p. 29). While this sounds very complicated, 3D printing has largely had a reputation
software has the capability of creating using this technology. The process of 3D printing is
relatively simple. First, the user creates a design in computer aided design (CAD) software. This
file can then be sent to the printer to be transformed into a physical product. The printer
dispenses thin layers of material, usually a plastic, one on top of another until a 3D object is
formed. In “Designing the 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand,” Elmansy says, “3D printing allows
Bypassing the traditional heavy machinery, 3D printers use desktop printers and additive
manufacturing technologies to produce a final product” (p. 27). This illustrates the availability of
Running head: THE PROS OF PRINTED PROSTHETICS 3
3D printing to the general public. No heavy machinery or factory is needed to create functional
Quite recently, 3D printing has found its way into the medical field, one of the most
prosthetics in use today are a result of the collaboration of artists, carpenters, and parents who
saw a need and decided to act upon it. Amputee Coalition tells the story of Liam, a young boy
who utilizes the first ever 3D printed hand. In the spirit of collaboration, e-Nable “an online
community where anyone can help collaborate on 3D printed prosthesis designs and get help
printing and assembling their own” (3D Printed Prosthetics | Where We Are Today) was created
to encourage others to pursue this path in prosthetics. Besides the sense of community that has
developed among those in this line of work, there are other benefits to 3D printing prosthetics
prosthetic. This is especially true for children who outgrow prosthetics rapidly. During a child’s
years of growth, a prosthetic may need to be replaced as often as every six months. The expenses
of this demand tend to be too much for the family to handle, and as a result, the child is left with
a prosthetic that does not fit correctly. Jorge Zuniga explains this situation further in “Cyborg
beast: a low-cost 3d-printed prosthetic hand for children with upper-limb differences.”
Children’s prosthetic needs are complex due to their small size, constant growth, and
of prostheses for children, especially when private insurance and public funding are
insufficient . Most upper-limb prostheses include a terminal device, with the objective to
replace the missing hand or fingers. The cost of a body-powered prosthetic hand ranges
Running head: THE PROS OF PRINTED PROSTHETICS 4
from $4,000 to $20,000; depending on the mode of control, these devices require
extensive fitting procedures to develop the terminal device and often include a complex
system of cables and harnesses. Electric-powered units (i.e., myoelectric) and mechanical
devices (i.e., body-powered) have been improved to accommodate children’s needs, but
the cost of maintenance and replacement represents an obstacle for many families.
Voluntary-closing upper-limb prosthetic devices are more suitable for children and play a
crucial role in improving gross motor development. Currently, the most cost-effective
option for pediatric populations is a passive prosthetic hook; although functional, these
devices have a high rejection rate, in part due to an unacceptable cosmetic appearance.
Most current prosthetics do not adapt to the normal growth of children’s limbs and
require constant visits to health care providers for adjustments or replacement, which
Zuniga describes how a traditional prosthetic can cost thousands of dollars, but also raises the
issue of how aesthetics affect the retention rate of pediatric prosthetics. As a child, if a prosthetic
is not comfortable, no matter how realistic it may look, the child will not want to wear it,
resulting is the abandonment of the prosthetic all together and a waste of financial resources. In a
separate article from Ian Birrell titled, “3D-printed prosthetic limbs: the next revolution in
medicine,” Zuniga recounts how he was able to observe the importance of being able to grab
objects to his 4-year-old son’s development. This led to Zungia’s development of a 3D-printed
prosthetic hand called “Cyborg Beast” whose design was aided by the preferences and
imagination of his son. Cyborg Beast is the solution to several of the problems associated with
traditional pediatric prosthetics. Zungia’s model can be produced cheaply, using 3D printing,
eliminating the financial burden that comes with having to replace a child’s prosthetic so often. It
Running head: THE PROS OF PRINTED PROSTHETICS 5
is also composed of brightly colored material, and visually looks like a robot’s hand. This is
important to children who will view this prosthetic as a toy, increasing the retention rate of the
prosthetic’s usage. Most importantly though, this prosthetic, along with all other 3D printed
prosthetics, is customizable, and is designed with each specific patient’s needs in mind and can
to help those who would not normally have access to traditional prosthetics. E-Nable is a
network of people who have uploaded their prosthetic designs for others to use and improve.
This database of blueprints has created a new degree of customizability to prosthetics. Kara S.
Differences,” explains how one of these files can be customized to a specific patient.
Printing a prosthesis starts by downloading an open-source design file from the Internet
and scaling the model to fit the recipient. Many prosthetic models require measurements
from the unaffected hand and arm, such as the width across the palm or the circumference
of the forearm, to approximate the best fit... Customization can be done using computer-
Systèmes). Scaling and layout of parts is easily done with the programs provided by the
printer companies or with independent programs such as Slic3r (slic3r.org). Parts can be
printed in a wide spectrum of colored filament feedstocks that can be transparent, opaque,
It is incredibly simple to customize one of these online files to fit a patient. This kind of
References
Anderson Goehrke, S. (2018, April 17). 3D Printing for Prosthetics and Social Impact: Going In-
va-prosthetics-interview/.
Bhatia, S. K. (2014). 3D-Printed Prosthetics Roll Off the Presses. Retrieved from
https://www.aiche.org/sites/default/files/cep/051428.pdf.
Birrell, I. (2017, February 19). 3D-printed prosthetic limbs: the next revolution in medicine.
prosthetic-limbs-revolution-in-medicine.
Elmansy, R. (2015, July 23). Designing the 3D‐Printed Prosthetic Hand. Retrieved from
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/drev.10311.
Reidel, H. (2019, September 16). The Successes and Failures of 3D Printed Prosthetics -
https://www.prescouter.com/2017/07/3d-printed-prosthetics/.
Tanaka, K. S., & Lightdale-Miric, N. (2016, August 3). Advances in 3D-Printed Pediatric
https://journals.lww.com/jbjsjournal/Fulltext/2016/08030/Advances_in_3D_Printed_Pedi
atric_Prostheses_for.12.aspx.
Zuniga1, J., Katsavelis1, D., Peck2, J., Stollberg3, J., Petrykowski1, M., & Fernandez4, C.
(2015, January 20). Cyborg beast: a low-cost 3d-printed prosthetic hand for children with
https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-015-0971-9.
3D Printed Prosthetics Where We Are Today. (2019, March 26). Retrieved from
https://www.amputee-coalition.org/3d-printed-prosthetics/.