Control of the artificial arms will undergo a change for the better, thanks to a new TMR - targeted muscle reinnervation - surgery, which will enhance the ability of the amputees with regard to controlling multiple parts of the artificial limb.

Since amputees lose access to nerve-control information, the TMR surgery restores the nerve function from the remaining arm nerves to chest or upper-arm muscles, which provide accurate signals for controlling the hand, wrist and elbow of the specially motorized artificial arm.

Reporting the better-control benefits of the TMR surgery in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a team led by Dr. Todd Kuiken of Chicago's Rehabilitation Institute, has elaborated how the re-attached nerves of the next-generation prosthetic device can better perform functions of the lost limb.

Explaining the procedure, Kuiken said that the antennas of new prosthetic devices capture electrical impulses from the nerves; thereby enabling computerized processing to direct the arm towards performing the requisite motion.

This latest advance in a surgical technique will make it easier for amputees to perform almost all the normal functions with their artificial limb, including pointing a finger, pinching someone or grasping a bat!

Dr. Gerald Loeb, of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, has termed the latest TMR technique "promising," and said: "With increasing functional capabilities, patients with upper-extremity amputations may derive exceptional benefit from prosthetic arms." (Harkiran contributed to this report)