Austria Unveils World First Prosthetic Leg with Sensations 

Granting a new lease of life, the researchers in Vienna have implanted the world's first prosthetic leg that is capable of working like a real limb. The artificial limb is fitted with sensors which enable transmission of feelings to the brain.

This prosthetic limb, invented by Professor Hubert Egger from the University of Linz in Austria is fitted with six sensors which stimulate the nerve endings in a patient's stump which are further attached to healthy tissue in the patient's thigh.

Egger explained that these sensors tell the brain that there is a foot and the wearer has the impression that it rolls off the ground when he walks. Professor Egger who is also credited with the development of a mind-controlled prosthetic arm in 2010, claimed that it was the first time that a leg amputee had been fitted with a sensory-enhanced prosthesis.

The lucky recipient, Wolfang Rangger is a former teacher who lost his right leg in 2007 after a cerebral stroke. The elated Rangger, who has spent the last six months trying out the new leg stated." It's like a second lease of life, like being reborn. It feels like I have a foot again. I no longer slip on ice and I can tell whether I walk on gravel, concrete, grass or sand. I can even feel small stones".

Additionally, the new prosthesis has not only imparted mobility to Rangger but it has also relieved him from the excruciating phantom pain which is suffered by many amputees.

However, priced between 10,000 and 30,000 Euros, Egger's invention for now would not be affordable for all.