{"id":10974,"date":"2018-01-23T09:49:28","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T09:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/mission\/?p=10974"},"modified":"2018-02-05T21:11:03","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T21:11:03","slug":"noahs-flashy-new-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/mission-old\/noahs-flashy-new-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Noah’s FLASHY new hand"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/em> Will Sansom<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like any kid, Noah Gutierrez wants to be cool. He also wants to be super-fast, just like his favorite lightning-quick superhero, the Flash.<\/p>\n

\"Noah

A prosthetic hand, customized to a local boy\u2019s specifications
on a 3-D printer and painted
red to match his favorite superhero, is bringing both
fun and function into his life.<\/p><\/div>\n

Noah, who\u2019s 11, hasn\u2019t let anything slow him down, despite being born with only the thumb on his right hand. He\u2019s adapted well to using the thumb as a post and working around the nonfunctional finger nubs on that hand.<\/p>\n

But necessity is the mother of invention, Plato said. Accordingly, a new use for three-dimensional (3-D) printers is the printing of prosthetic devices for patients like Noah.<\/p>\n

When Noah saw a story on TV about a 3-D-printed hand helping a young girl, it sparked his curiosity to see if he, too, could benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something that I looked forward to,\u201d Noah said. \u201cI thought that maybe I can do some things I haven\u2019t been able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noah and his mother, Larissa Gilmette, visited the Orthotics\/Prosthetics Clinic of UT Health Physicians to ask if a prosthetic hand could be printed for him.<\/p>\n

There they met Jesse Rettele, L\/CPO, a clinical instructor of rehabilitation medicine in the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine and medical director of the Orthotics\/Prosthetics Clinic. He accepted the challenge.<\/p>\n

Prostheses fill in what a person is missing. In Noah\u2019s case, could an appliance be printed to simulate both the flexibility and grip of real fingers? Rettele partnered with Sam Newman, a medical 3-D animator at UT Health San Antonio.<\/p>\n

The biggest challenge with conventional 3-D-printed hands is discomfort, so Newman took a scanned image of Noah\u2019s hand and merged those specifications with a 3-D-printed hand template in his computer. He then scaled down the size of the fingers to match Noah\u2019s other hand.<\/p>\n

The \u201chand\u201d is actually a system of connected parts\u2014plastic knuckles and fingers, durable straps, rubber hinges, flexible cables and traction pads. This custom invention is secured to Noah\u2019s wrist and fits over his undeveloped fingers.\"close-up<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 3-D-printed hand utilizes the motion at the wrist to control the fingers,\u201d Rettele said. \u201cFlexible cables pull the fingers closed when the wrist is flexed. The fingers automatically extend back open when the user\u2019s wrist is relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four prosthetic fingers move together at once and bend in the anatomically correct places, allowing the fingers to grasp objects, Rettele said.<\/p>\n

Dacron straps, made from the same material as seat belts, are used to anchor the prosthesis to Noah\u2019s hand. Noah can fine-tune the straps\u2019 tightness based on the task he is doing\u2014looser for light work such as brushing his teeth or combing his hair, tighter for heavy-duty activities such as riding his bike or lifting weights.<\/p>\n

Someday, he hopes, he\u2019ll climb monkey bars on the playground with his friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a dream of Noah\u2019s for a very long time,\u201d his mother said.<\/p>\n

The hand, printed in red, is accented by a Flash lightning bolt that Newman painted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hand is futuristic-looking and fun, with the look and design expressing Noah\u2019s personality and interests,\u201d Rettele said. \u201cInstead of trying to hide his hand, he may actually want to show it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire prosthesis weighs about 7 ounces\u2014less than half the weight of a traditional prosthetic device. It\u2019s customized for comfort and function, whereas most hand prostheses are not. And it cost only $60, compared to $4,000 to $5,000 or more for traditional hand prostheses, Rettele said.<\/p>\n

Best yet, if anything breaks, everything can easily be rebuilt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the file on a computer, so I\u2019ll just send it over to the printer and make another one,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n

\"NoahThe prosthesis has given Noah a new confidence, his mother said, and the lightning bolt reminds him every day to work hard. \u201cIt just inspires me to do certain things that I wasn\u2019t able to do before,\u201d Noah said.<\/p>\n

That includes a career as a game programmer when he grows up.<\/p>\n

\u201cNoah\u2019s new hand has really helped him, not only physically but mentally,\u201d his mother said. \u201cI can see how much his confidence has grown, and how much it has helped his self-esteem. He really wants to meet other kids like him, and let them know it is OK to be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, just like the Flash, Noah said, \u201cI want to encourage them not to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Noah Gutierrez wants to be super-fast, like his favorite superhero, the Flash. A new 3-D printed hand is giving him a boost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":11091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[219,8],"tags":[221],"class_list":["post-10974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2017-winter-2018","category-features","tag-prosthetics"],"yoast_head":"\nNoah's flashy hand<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Noah Gutierrez wants to be super-fast, like his favorite superhero, the Flash. 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