Week 4: MedTech + Art

 

I work as a Physical Therapist Assistant in various clinics throughout Southern California. In my education to become a PTA, I was familiarized with human anatomy and physiology, and body imaging techniques like x-rays and MRI's. The Body Worlds Exhibition was been one of my favorite art exhibits ever since we visited during a class field trip.  Part of my job description to rehabilitate people who have lost limbs to accidents and medical conditions. The process is often arduous as many of these people that I work with are overcoming mental, physical, and emotional traumas. As a part of that healing process, many people need training in the proper use of their prosthetics limbs.

Even the most basic prosthetic limbs have a lot of moving parts and can be daunting to learn at first. 

 

Most clinics divide the rehabilitation process into 9 steps ranging from preoperative care to vocational rehabilitation and beyond. I generally see patients towards the middle and end stages of the prosthetics training where we focus on proper strengthening and stretching, learning how to walk, then finally learning how to return to work. 

 

  When my patients begin to feel overwhelmed by the rehabilitation process, I will usually try to spend at least one session discussing the things that are possible for them to achieve. I often use the work of Aimee Mullins who promotes the term pro-abled over disabled, to help my patients find the beauty and positivity that they might otherwise ignore.
 

 It is my sincere hope that as medical technology progresses, humanity is eventually able to phase out the term disabled and we can recognize the beauty and artistry of the human body in all its forms.

 

 

 

Resources

 

The Aesthetics of Prosthetics: Aimee Mullins. YouTube. THNKR, 2012. https://youtu.be/CEdhSpaiRUI.

“Amputee Rehabilitation.” Physiopedia. Accessed April 24, 2021. https://www.physio-pedia.com/Amputee_Rehabilitation.

O'Keeffe, Bernard, and Shraddha Rout. “Prosthetic Rehabilitation in the Lower Limb.” Indian journal of plastic surgery : official publication of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India. Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Private Ltd., January 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6664837/.

Persson, Maja. “Aimee Mullins.” Icon Magazine. Accessed April 24, 2021. http://iconmagazine.se/portfolio/aimee-mullins/.

Ulrich , Lynda. “Aimee Mullins' 12 Pairs of Legs.” Ever Widening Circles, June 18, 2020. https://everwideningcircles.com/2015/10/18/aimee-mullins-12-pairs-legs/.