10 Nov

How the Myo Kinisi has helped Mike Chapman achieve his career goals

How the Myo Kinisi has helped Mike Chapman achieve his career goals How the Myo Kinisi has helped Mike Chapman achieve his career goals How the Myo Kinisi has helped Mike Chapman achieve his career goals How the Myo Kinisi has helped Mike Chapman achieve his career goals
 
The Story
When Mike was just 13 years-old, he received his first myoelectric hand – a big change from the split hook he’d had since birth. Mike said, “Cosmetically the split hook was terrible, and I was a child, so it wasn’t very pleasing to go to school with it. As soon I started using Myoelectric hands, it made a big difference to my confidence and to use it use was much easier.” 

But it wasn’t the perfect solution. After many years of wearing a Myoelectric hand, Mike began working as an electronics engineer testing new devices for the NHS in the UK. His job was demanding on the technology. He said, “As an electronics engineer, my old hand was used heavily for around 12 hours a day on electronics equipment. It was unreliable. The battery would break all the time, the hand would just stop working, and that meant I couldn’t go to work. It was always in for repair and it wasn’t suitable for the amount of work that I was using it for. It was at that same time the Myo Kinisi had just become available so Jake recommended it to me. I thought, what have I got to lose?” 

The Solution
With the decision made to give the new Steeper Myo Kinisi a go, Mike had a custom socket made with the electrodes placed in the most receptive areas to detect his muscle contractions. Mike opted for a friction wrist as the quick disconnect wrist in his previous prosthesis had proved unreliable. Jake was able to integrate the latest S-Charge battery system into the forearm of Mike’s new prosthesis and six weeks later, it was ready for him to use.

“I was quite a straightforward process. My old hand had been the same effectively for all those years, I wondered whether it would be a learning curve getting used to the Myo Kinisi, but actually, it was seamless! I just went straight to using it.” 
The Turning Point
Mike has now been using the Myo Kinisi everyday for over 6 months and hasn’t looked back since. “The Myo Kinisi is 100% better! I use mine without the wrist disconnect because with my older hand, I found the wrist disconnected constantly due to how much the hand was moving. I asked to be fitted without it this time, which seems a lot better for me.” 

“With my high usage, my old hand drained the battery so fast I struggled to get a full days’ use out of it. With the Myo Kinisi my usage is still really high but I’m able to get two days minimum which is just great for me!”

Together, the Myo Kinisi and the S-Charge system gives Mike the extra battery life he needs to confidently get through his day’s work. In fact, its 3500mAh internal battery, makes it one of the most powerful configurations available, and the OLED Display showing real-time battery life icons means he always knows how much charge his device has left.

One of Mike’s main concerns was the negative impact his previous hand was having on his work. He needed a hand that he could rely on. He said, “I used to wake up thinking, is my hand going to work today? Is it not going to work? And now I know - it’s going to work. So, it’s just better! The Myo Kinisi has helped me carry out the testing I need to do at work and now things are progressing massively. We’re securing big contracts with medical products! It’s already helping me achieve my career goals and has helped me do lots of different things day-to-day.” 

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