PIX11 reports a former science teacher will be one of the first in the nation to receive a myoelectric arm that she will control with her mind.

A year and a half ago, amputee Sondra Stieber met with an HSS physician and learned she was a candidate for the prosthesis. S. Robert Rozbruch, MD, chief of Limb Lengthening and Complex Reconstruction Service at HSS, started performing the osseointegration procedure two years ago, mostly on leg amputees, as hands are more intricate. Stieber is one of just a few patients to receive a myoelectric arm following osseointegration surgery.

“A very, relatively short prosthetic has to be very sophisticated,” noted Dr. Rozbruch. The patient controls the prosthesis just by thinking about it. Stieber was tested by physicians to make sure she could do it. “The band that goes around the arm and the level of those muscles it transmits those signals to the myoelectric prosthesis,” he explained.

Stieber and her husband recently spent a week in New York City at HSS to understand how the arm works.

Watch the segment on Pix11.com. This segment also aired during the 9am and 5pm news hours on March 19, 2021.

Additional coverage:

• Kwch.com
• Kansas.com
• Kansas.com
• The Wichita Eagle in print on April 28, 2021.