Prosthetics first began as wooden and leather cups and simple crutches. This eventually developed into a peg which freed the hands for everyday functions. A peg leg held cloth rags to allow a wide range of motion. Since the birth of the great civilization Rome came a development in medicine and helped in the scientific field of Prosthetics. During the Second Punic War (218 to 210 B. C.
) Pliny the elder wrote about Marcus Sergius a general who had major injuries and had a right arm amputation. An iron hand was made and attached to hold his shield in place during the battle. During the Dark Ages their was little development in prosthetics. There were few prosthetics alternatives available to the amputee except for hand hooks and peg legs. However, only the rich could afford them. Some Knights had prosthetics made for them by their armorers, but they were more for looks than to use to function with.
Throughout The Renaissance many important rediscorverys of medicine were discovered by the Greeks and Romans. A French Army Barber named Ambrose Pare invented the lower and upper extremity prosthetics that show us their knowledge of the functions of basic prosthetics. Throughout the 1600’s through the 1800’s many great developments occurred in prosthetics and the surgery involved with them. The inventions of the tourniquet, blood clotting styptics, anesthesia, and disease-fighting drugs took med ince to a new level but also made amputation a more accepted practice. Also, surgeon made the prosthetic limbs much more functional. Pieter Verdun, a Dutch surgeon created the first non-locking, below the knee prosthetics in 1696.
His prosthetics is similar to today’s corset and joint prosthetics. Dr. Douglas Bly invented and patented Doctor Bly’s anatomical leg Many called it “the most complete and successful invention ever attained.