Prosthetic

In medicine, a prosthesis (from Ancient Greek prósthesis, "addition, application, attachment") is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trauma, disease, or congenital conditions. Prosthetic amputee rehabilitation is primarily coordinated by a prosthetist and an inter-disciplinary team of health care professionals including physiatrists, surgeons, physical therapists, and occupational therapists.

Prosthetics have been mentioned throughout Terra's history. The earliest recorded mention is the warrior queen Vishpala in the Rigveda (c. 1700–1100 BCE ). The Egyptians were early pioneers of the idea, as shown by the wooden toe found on a body from the New Kingdom. Roman bronze crowns (Human tooth prothesis) have also been found, but their use could have been more aesthetic than medical.

Before the late 20th century CE, Terran prosthetics were usually made of wood, iron, steel, and at the end of WWII, plastic. After this time, Terran medicine started using materials such as carbon fiber, Mylar, silicon rubber, titanium and others. They also began to create prosthetic devices controlled by muscle and nerve impulses.

Post-Ascent, this evolved into the so-called “bionic” devices, controlled by nerve impulses. This later led into the development of today's cybernetic devices that hook directly into the Central Nervous System, providing “true” replacement with full or enhanced functionality.