Overview of Individuals with One-Arm
- In the United States, there are 41,000 registered persons who had an amputation of a hand or complete arm [1]
- Congenital upper limb deficiency has an incidence of approximately 4.1 per 10,000 live births [2]
- Causes of Upper Extremity Amputation [2]
- Congenital – 8.9%
- Tumor – 8.2%
- Disease – 5.8%
- Trauma – 77%
- The following chart is a list of tasks that one-arm individuals struggle with the most [3]
Long Term Effects
- Contractures in your residual limb. Your remaining limb can be susceptible to muscle deformities from stiffness and constriction of the tissues. This can be fixed with therapy if found in early stages. [4]
- It is also common for amputees to develop skin irritations and infections. This can be even more common if the person is wearing a prosthetic arm that will rub against the skin. [4]
Demographic Breakdown
- 60 percent of arm amputations are between ages 21 and 64 years and 10 percent are under 21 years of age [1]
- The majority of traumatic amputation victims are between ages 15 and 40 [5]
- Some causes of traumatic amputation include explosions, fireworks, gunshot wounds, traffic accidents, and farm/work-related accidents. [6]
- More trauma-related amputations occur among males than females. [6]
- African‐Americans are up to four times more likely to have an amputation than white Americans [7]
Occupational Breakdown
- Prior to the amputation most amputees worked in Machining, processing, product fabrication, and construction.
- Post amputation most amputees worked in service, clerical, sales , and managerial occupations.
- 16% have a sedentary job post amputation compared to 1% before.
- There is a 93% rate of return to work for upper limb amputees.
- For amputees 51% are employed full time, 5% employed part time, 8% are unemployed but seeking employment, and 25% are retired. [8]
Sales and Costs
- The upper limb prosthetics market was 214.8 million in 2017 and is expected to hit 322.6 million by 2026 [9]
- Lifetime healthcare costs for people with limb loss is $509,275 compared to $361,200 for people without limb loss [7]
Sources & Brief Summary of Each
[1] Looks at the amputation stats in the United States along with leading causes of amputation.
[2] Talks about further statistics on hand and arm loss. Where the one chart was obtained from. Gives additional stats about occupational accidents and prevention.
[3] A survey on activities of daily living and occupations of upper extremity amputees. Describes the difficulties with prostheses in daily living. Where the one chart was obtained from.
[4] Analyzes some of the most common injuries among amputees’.
[5] Additional amputation statistics and common causes.
[6] Several abstracts relating to upper limb amputations, amputations and protheses, upper limb prosthetics, and rehabilitation. All of these are the abstracts but contain high level information.
[7] Even more limb loss statistics but are more obscure. This site talked about further demographics as well as comparing the living costs of limb loss compared to normal health costs.
[8] An in-depth review on employment patterns of industrial amputees. It looks at where these accidents are occurring as well as what amputees are doing for work following their accident.
[9] The sales and market forecast analysis on prosthetics from 2019-2026