Amputees building their own prosthetics is obviously not an option we would ever consider in the claims space, but the inspiring story of an amputee with exceptional engineering skills building his own prosthetic leg highlights the prohibitive cost of the most advanced prosthetics, especially for those who cannot bring a personal injury claim. The case of amputee, Alex Young, who crafted two protheses for his below knee amputation, including one for swimming, was reported by the BBC on 27 January 2026.
In reviewing advancements in prosthetics, we have previously highlighted Lord Macinlay’s view on the poor availability of bionic prosthetics on the NHS and provision of a bionic limb such as the Hero Pro through the NHS is still likely to be rare. However, it is encouraging to see that in 2025 the first NHS patient was fitted with the Hero Pro bionic arm which has been marketed at the lightest weight of any available hand system. That patient, who lost his arm in a farming accident found this to be the first limb in ten years of being an amputee to work for him enabling him to work again on a farm and even go back to cycling.
Also, already this year, we have seen the launch of a new body-powered upper limb prosthetic from Metacarpal, a Scottish based company, which they say was created to address the high rates of user abandonment seen with upper limb prosthetics. Metacarpal GEM is said to be a world first in human-powered upper limb prosthetics with technology automatically shaping the fingers around objects in three distinct grip formations, without electronics. The prosthetic is waterproof, does not require charging and, crucially, is said to weigh less than a pound. Currently there is no publicly available information as to the cost of the Metacarpal GEM.
Upper limb amputees often raise concerns about appearance and functionality, and it will be interesting to see how these new products are received.
In relation to lower limb prosthetics, 2025 saw the Ossur Navii waterproof and sand-proof microprocessor knee released in the UK, providing automatic adaptation to walking speed, user weight and responsiveness on all types of terrain. We wait with interest to see how the Ossur Navii performs in trials.
Our Amputation Technical Unit will keep a close eye on developments in this interesting area.
