Our team chose to focus on creating solutions that will assist persons with one hand complete daily household tasks in the kitchen. The three tasks we chose to carry out and shadow are: making an omelet, making a sandwich and hand-washing the dishes.
Shadowing Research:
See the video below for our research on one-handed cooking.
Background Research:
Hand Injury Demographics:
- Construction Workers
- Athletes
- Alcohol Consumers
- Elderly
- War Veterans
- Bomb Survivors
- People with Disabilities
Statistics:
- Amputation can be a result of cardiovascular disease, traumatic accidents, infection, tumors, nerve injury, and congenital anomalies.
- Among those living with limb loss, the main causes are vascular disease (54%) including diabetes and peripheral arterial disease, trauma (45%), and cancer (less than 2%)
- There are 2.1 million people living with limb loss in the USA, and that number is expected to double by 2050.
- 185,000 people in the U.S. have a amputation each year. This means that 300 to 500 amputations are performed every day.
- 1,558 military personnel lost a limb as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- There are more than 1 million annual limb amputations globally; about one every 30 seconds
- 50,000 new amputations every year in USA based on information from National Center for Health Statistics
- Only about 15% of amputees are trauma victims and cancer survivors—the types of patients who most often make good candidates for high-tech prostheses.
Diabetes and Limb Loss
Diabetes affects more and more people in the U.S. every year and is one of the major causes of limb loss. The number of amputations caused by diabetes increased by 24% from 1988 to 2009. The CDC reported in 2015 that 9.4%, or 30.3 million people, in the U.S. had diabetes. This will play a big role in the projection that the number of amputees in the U.S. will double by 2050 to around 3.6 million.
African‐Americans and Limb Loss
African-Americans are up to four times more likely to have an amputation than white Americans. This ties into the diabetes prevalence above. Diabetes rates vary by race, ethnicity and age; with African-Americans & Native Americans at the top of the list.
Soldiers and Limb Loss
As a result of war, soldiers have lost limbs from a number of traumas. As of Sept. 1, 2010, there have been 1,621 new U.S. amputee “Wounded Warriors” as a result of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation New Dawn.
Current Products:
The T-handle Rocker Knife is the essential cutting tool for people with one hand or other disabilities. It is easy to use, simple, and durable. The same product can be used for both left or right handed customers. As the name suggests, it is a knife and its blade is attached to a handle roughly in the shape of a T to help customers grip it with one hand and cut their food from directly above it. A picture is shown below. The knife is fairly priced around $30.
Another essential is the waterproof cutting board which features aluminum spikes to hold food on while cutting. Also, rounded food guards help keep the food on the board. The bottom has four rubber feet anchors so the board stays on the surface as well without moving. This is a slightly expensive product at around $52.
Another cutting board that has a lot more features is the Yanko single hand cutting board. The board includes tube openers, features for fruits and vegetable cutting and peeling equipment, graters, and elements to stabilize different sorts of food.
Another task that is difficult to do for one handed persons is dishwashing. Oneware, designed by Loren Lim seeks to be a solution for this problem. A perforated silicone layer grips dishes and allows them to move slightly so users can apply pressure while scrubbing the surface.
One handed Can Opener, is an electric can opener which automatically walks around the can and switches off automatically.
Currents Events:
Most of the current events I researched were centered around stroke victims that suffer from spasticity in their limbs, resulting in a loss of mobility and/or use in their arms. This immobility causes daily tasks to be more difficult to perform. Some of the websites provide tools and techniques, such as Loren Lim’s Oneware products or products such as specialized can openers, vegetable peelers, and cutting boards. Other sources I found had specific examples of people who go through daily life with one hand, such as Ashley Herman; a professional dancer at Universal Orlando Resort, and Michael Caines; the head chef at Gidleigh Park that cooks with his prosthetic arm. I also found one site that took one-handed cooking in a different direction. Catherine Fiegel created a cookbook for new or upcoming mothers. The book is called, “The One-Armed Cook” and provides new mothers with helpful tips on how to cook with a child on your hip or running around your kitchen. Fiegel joked that even when the kids are old enough to be off of the mother, she is still using one hand because there’s a “martini in the other hand.”
Standard & Best Practices:
There are standards for training recent amputees to adapt to doing daily tasks with one hand. “The Center for Amputee Rehab” helps these individuals regain the abilities to overcome their obstacles. There are some famous YouTubers who create videos to show amputees how to get back to living a normal life. One YouTuber amputee, Megan Absten, posted a video earlier this year that shows how to get dressed with only using one arm. By having amputees post updates on their daily life, it gives other amputees confidence and makes them feel like they are not alone and that there are other people just like them.