Prosthetics have changed a lot these past years and through the advancements in technology, they can improve even more. Amputees, mostly soldiers who lost their limbs in combat, got their limbs cut off went through a very painful and unsafe procedure which most likely lead to death. Today things are much safer and amputees have a very high survival rate, and through technology, prosthetics today are very functional and lifelike. Advances in prosthetics have changed society for the better.
Societies focus on improving prosthetics due to soldiers returning from war without limbs. According to Macrae, "More than 30,000 union soldiers and 40,000 confederate soldiers lost limbs between 1861 and 1865"" (Macrae 2). Basically he stated that since so many soldiers came back from war with the loss of a limb or limbs, it enforced the prosthetic industry to make and improve more prosthetics. James Edward Hanger, a confederate soldier who lost his leg, was given a wooden peg leg in replacement. The confederate soldier, unhappy and unsatisfied built and designed a new lightweight leg from old barrel staves (Macrae 4). In other words, Hanger was so unsatisfied with the low quality peg leg that he built a new lightweight leg to suite his needs. With lots of people disappointed with their artificial limb, the prosthetic industry decided to remodel and improve their prosthetics. With war leaving many soldiers disabled, it forced societies to focus on improving prosthetics and giving amputees a better life. .
Prosthetics have been around for nearly 3,000 years and it's still changing today. Ornes states, "A prosthetic limb can be hard to get used too, and part if the problem has to do with our senses, seeing and feeling are particularly important to how we move our bodies" (Ornes 2). Ornes is insisting that prosthetics can be very hard to get used to and unhappiness leads to change. Unhappy with their prosthetics, scientists continually work on making prosthetics more lifelike and functional.