The History of Prostheses Prostheses began with the Ancient Egyptians and As technology improved prostheses did too
Ancient Egypt - 1500 B.C.
Prostheses were first used in Ancient Egypt in about 1500 B.C. Artificial limbs were used to make an injured person look a little more normal but the limbs weren't really useful.
424 B.C. to 1 B.C.
Around 424 B.C. there was a story about a prisoner who was condemned to death but he escaped when he cut off his foot and made a wooden foot instead. There was also a Roman general around 200 B.C. who lost a hand in war but replaced it with a iron hand and went back to war.
The Dark Ages (476 to 1000 A.D.)
There weren't many improvements to prostheses during the dark ages. Prostheses were very basic and were mainly used to help injured knights in battle. A prosthetic hand could only hold a shield and a prosthetic leg was only to help a knight balance on his horse. Only rich people could afford a peg leg or a hook hand that could be used on a daily basis.
The Renaissance: The 1500s
In the 1500s doctors and scientists looked back to what the ancient Greeks and Romans had learned and made lots of improvements to prosthetic devices. Prosthetic hands began to look like real hands and could be put in different positions to be used for different purposes. Ambroise Pare was a French army barber and surgeon. He improved amputations and prosthetic devices. He had a friend who was a locksmith and they started using leather, paper, and glue instead of heavy iron to make prosthetic limbs.
The Renaissance: 1600s to 1800s
In 1696 Pieter Verduyn created a concept for prosthetic legs that is still used in joint devices today. In the 1800s there were great improvements to prostheses. The prosthetic leg began to look, work, and move much more like the normal human leg. Amputations also improved by cutting off less of the leg. Then people could have just a prosthetic foot not a whole prosthetic leg.
Modern Times
In the Civil War there were lots of amputations so they needed lots of prostheses. Lots of improvements were needed, especially to materials and the way prostheses worked. In 1912 Marcel Desoutter used aluminum for a lightweight prosthetic leg. In World War I there were few improvements. In World War II veterans demanded improvements so the US government took money from weapons research and moved it to prosthetic design. Then prostheses became lighter when made from plastic, aluminum, or composite materials. They also became almost fully functional. Now robotics, computers, and silicone will allow prostheses to look realistic and natural. One day, the brain will probably be able to control prosthetic devices like this recent articleexplains. The prosthetic device will be just as good or maybe even better than the real thing!