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ABOUT PROSTHETICS

• VA’s involvement in providing prostheses

to Veterans began in 1921, when the 

Veterans Bureau, a predecessor agency to 

the Department of Veterans Affairs, was 

give the responsibility to provide artificial 

limbs and appliances to World War I 

Veterans.

• VA provides a full range of equipment

and services to Veterans. These range from 

items worn by the Veteran such as artificial 

limbs and hearing aids; to those that 

improve accessibility, such as ramps and 

vehicle modifications; to devices surgically 

placed in the Veteran, such as hips and 

pacemakers.

• The department has more than

70 locations at which orthotics and 

prosthetics are custom-fabricated and 

fitted, using state-of-the-art componentry. 

The American Board accredits each for 

Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics 

and Pedorthics, the Board of Orthotic/

Prosthetic Certification, or both.

VA RESEARCH ON PROSTHETICS: 

OVERVIEW

• To help meet the lifestyle and medical

needs of Veterans who have lost limbs, 

VA researchers develop and test a wide 

variety of prosthetic devices. VA’s goal 

is to offer Veterans prosthetics that will 

restore them to their highest possible 

level of functioning within their families, 

communities, and workplaces.

• Some VA researchers are working on developing high-functioning artificial limbs 

that are very similar to their natural counterparts. Others are working on advanced 

wheelchair designs that promote mobility 

and independence for wheelchair users, 

and make it easier to use a wheelchair.

• Still other VA researchers are using

functional electrical stimulation and other 

technologies to help those with weak or 

paralyzed muscles, and developing and 

testing state-of-the-art adaptive devices to 

help those with vision or hearing loss.

• Many of the latest innovations and

discoveries in prosthetics research in the 

United States take place at VA centers. 

These centers generally work in close 

partnership with affiliated universities, and 

sometimes with other universities, as well 

as with commercial partners and other 

federal agencies.

• VA laboratories specializing in prosthetics

development include the Advanced Platform Technology Center, in Cleveland; the 

Center for Functional Electrical Stimulation,

also in Cleveland; the Human Engineering Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh; 

the Center of Excellence for Limb Loss 

Prevention and Prosthetic Engineering in 

Seattle; and the VA Center of Excellence for 

Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology in 

Providence, Rhode Island.

SELECTED MILESTONES AND 

MA JOR EVENTS 

1947 – Introduced the first mobility and 

orientation rehabilitation-training program 

for blinded Veterans

2007 – Unveiled the first powered anklefoot prosthesis, as part of a team with 

researchers at MIT and Brown University

2013 – Reported on new technology to 

help restore the sense of touch for those 

who have lost an upper limb and use an 

artificial hand

2014 – Published results of a study on 

how users and clinicians feel about the 

DEKA arm, the first prosthetic arm capable 

of performing multiple simultaneous 

powered movements

2015 – Invented a wheelchair allowing 

users to crank up the push rims to a 

standing position, providing them with 

increased functionality and independence

2015 – Began the first human study in the 

United States to investigate osseointegrated prosthetics, in which implants are 

firmly anchored in place by integrating 

implanted material in living bone

VA research on 

PROSTHETICS

VA’s Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service is the 

largest and most comprehensive provider of 

prosthetic devices and sensory aids in the world.

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Photo: dekaresearch.com
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Some VA researchers are working on 

developing high-functioning artificial 

limbs that are very similar to their 

natural counterparts.

2016 – Determined that knee 

replacement surgery could benefit 

some patients aged 85 and older

RECENT STUDIES: SELECTED 

HIGHLIGHTS

• A 10-year trial of a surgically 

implanted electrical stimulation 

system for people with spinal cord 

injuries (SCIs) was completed by 

researchers at VA’s Cleveland Functional 

Electrical Stimulation (FES) Center 

and Case Western University in 2015. 

By stimulating muscles, the system 

activates muscles to allow for standing, 

better balance, and exercise. A study of 

15 people with SCIs who had received 

the system found that the patients had 

incorporated the neuroprostheses into 

their lives; that the system worked as 

well for patients after a year as it had 

when they first received it; and that the 

neuroprosthesis was safe and reliable 

to use. (Archives of Physical Medicine and 

Rehabilitation, May 2012)

• A method of knee replacement that 

uses MRI scans and special software 

to create customized cutting guides 

that surgeons can use to prepare the 

bones surrounding the artificial knee 

was tested at the Phoenix VA Health 

Care System. A research team found this 

knee replacement method provided 

much better pain relief and was more 

effective in restoring function and range 

of movement than other methods. 

Veterans in the study who received the 

knee in this manner were more than 

three times as likely to be pain-free two 

year after surgery, compared with those 

who received knees using other surgical 

procedures. Also, they were able to 

walk 50 feet further, on average, in the 

hospital before discharge. (The Bone and 

Joint Journal, July 2014)

• The DEKA advanced prosthetic arm 

is the first prosthetic arm capable 

of providing multiple simultaneous 

powered movements. VA researchers 

and colleagues collected data on the 

DEKA arm over four years at four VA 

sites, and it is now approved by the 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In 

a 2014 study led by researchers from 

the Providence VA Medical Center 

and Brown University, 24 upper-limb 

amputees were fitted with a secondgeneration arm, and 13 were fitted 

with a third-generation arm, and were 

surveyed about their experiences. In 

all, 95 percent of Gen 2 users and 91 

percent of Gen 3 users indicated that 

they were able to perform new activities 

they had been unable to perform 

with their existing prosthetic device. 

(Prosthetics and Orthotics International,

December 2014)

• BrainGate is a neural prosthesis 

that allows people whose arms and 

legs are paralyzed to control robotic 

arms or computer cursors with 

their thoughts. It was developed by a 

research team of VA, Brown University, 

Harvard University, and Massachusetts 

General Hospital investigators in the 

2000s. Recently, the research team 

found that advances in the system 

enabled those using it to acquire 

“targets” on a computer screen, such 

as letters on a keyboard, more than 

twice as quickly as before. Another 

study found that the system can allow 

point-and-click communication by 

people with locked-in syndrome, 

who are fully conscious but unable to 

move any muscles except for those 

that control eye movement. (Science 

Translational Medicine, Nov. 11, 2015: 

Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair,

June 2015)

For more information on VA studies 

on prosthetics and other key topics 

relating to Veterans’ health, please 

visit www.research.va.gov/topics

PROSTHETICS

Updated September 2016 • For a digital version of this fact sheet with active links to sources, visit www.research.va.gov/topics