Medicine has been one of the fields that has benefited the most thanks to the development of technology. If before it was possible to perform operations or discover diseases with much more rudimentary instruments, today the creation of new machines and devices allows this work to be done much more quickly and precisely. It also makes it possible to detect diseases earlier and cure them.
A group of scientists has developed a system that would be surgically implanted under the skin and that would serve to restore the sense of touch . Its use would be for people who, after suffering an accident in some parts of the body, lose touch in certain areas. Thanks to this device, it could be possible to recover the sensation we feel when touching any object, either with our hands or feet, for example.
The passage of electricity, the key
Although the area where we feel the touch most is in the fingers, the ideal would be to implant this device under the fingertip, although it can also be used in other areas of the body.
It works through a system that applies small electrical discharges achieved through the contact of two materials. When we touch something with the affected area, this electricity will travel through the different components of the device to send a signal to the human brain that will translate it as the sensation of feeling what we are touching.
The stronger we press, the greater the electricity that will flow through the device, so we will feel the touch with much more force.
All rehearsals, a success
Like all electronic devices that are manufactured today, there are several experiments that have been carried out to verify that its operation is perfect. The tests were a total success, as several rats were taken with a nerve cut in their legs and implanted with the device. The result was that they were able to walk again without any problem.
The fundamental objective of the team that has worked in the creation of this project is to help people who have lost touch in different parts of the body, although they do not rule out creating larger prototypes and applying them in other areas.
This would be a great progress for people who have suffered accidents and have had sequelae such as injuries. In addition, it would also be a protection for them, since the loss of touch cannot make you feel anything even if that part of the body that you do not feel is suffering some kind of damage.