Prosthesis-Held Kitchen Knife

Iowa FaRM Program staffer Byron Hemingson developed a Prosthesis-Held Kitchen Knife for a Dorrance #7 terminal device. The modifications involved removing most of the knife handle, reducing the butt end of the tang to fit inside the diamond-shaped locator at the base of the prosthetic hook, then forming custom-fit grips on the shortened handle that allow the hook to hold the knife securely. To form the grip, Hemingson applied dental plastic to the knife handle, lubricated the hook to prevent the plastic from adhering to it, placed the knife into the hook to harden overnight, then removed the knife from the hook and smoothed the rough edges of the newly formed hook-fitting grip on the knife handle. The same procedure could be used to adapt a variety of tools.

Cost:

Impairment Category: Upper extremity