{"id":448,"date":"2011-06-28T06:13:20","date_gmt":"2011-06-28T10:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/example.org\/x-fingers-replace-lost-digits-empower-patients-with-new-function"},"modified":"2011-06-28T06:13:20","modified_gmt":"2011-06-28T10:13:20","slug":"x-fingers-replace-lost-digits-empower-patients-with-new-function","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/2011\/06\/x-fingers-replace-lost-digits-empower-patients-with-new-function.html","title":{"rendered":"X-Fingers Replace Lost Digits, Empower Patients with New Function"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/strong>SolidWorks Helps Make Replacement Fingers a Reality<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CONCORD, Mass., USA, May 10, 2011 \u2013 <\/strong>The question, \u201cHey, Grandpa, where\u2019d your fingers go?\u201d haunted the man featured in the YouTube video<\/a> for months after he lost two digits to a table saw. But somehow, he\u2019s on the screen wiggling four normal-length fingers. Two he was born with; the other two Dan Didrick gave him. The latter are surgical steel digits called X-Fingers<\/a>, which move, flex, and grasp just like his originals.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow when the grandkids come over, they\u2019re totally amazed. They call me Robo Man,\u201d says the grandfather, his voice mellowing. \u201cI can\u2019t believe it myself. I actually have fingers that work.\u201d<\/p>\n

 \"Xfingers1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Didrick, of Naples, Fla., designed these, the world's first active-function artificial finger assemblies specifically for amputees, in SolidWorks\u00ae<\/sup> software<\/a>. He accomplished this feat over a two-week period with no engineering experience \u2013 just a week of self-paced tutorials. In fact, he didn\u2019t know what computer-aided design was before he started using it. He\u2019d whittled his first concept prototype from pine.<\/p>\n

Eight years and 80-plus designs later, X-Fingers and X-Thumbs mimic natural body parts without any electronics. The criss-crossing surgical steel levers, which put the \u201cX\u201d in X-Fingers, are actuated by the remaining finger or thumb and covered in thermoplastic for a lifelike look and feel. Patients can pick up coins, button shirts, tie shoes, type letters, carry buckets \u2013 even play the piano.<\/p>\n

X-Fingers, notes Didrick, are a huge leap from the traditional flaccid latex appendages whose only function is masking the problem. As such, X-Fingers have earned his company, Didrick Medical<\/a>, global recognition:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Didrick Medical received the 2009 Perfect Pitch Award in<\/a> November 2009, judged by several successful entrepreneurs, including Sir Richard Branson of Virgin.<\/p>\n

\u2022 X-Finger has been showcased in the Isimbardi Palace in Milan, Italy, as well as several museums, including the United States Patent and Trademark Museum, the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Museum of Science in Boston, the Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal in New York City, and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u2022 X-Finger was a finalist in the 2009 INDEX: Awards<\/a> in Copenhagen sponsored by the Crown Prince of Denmark and recognizing \u201cdesigns for a better life.\u201d<\/p>\n

An estimated 94 percent of all non-fatal amputations involve fingers, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Approximately 30,000 people are rushed to US emergency rooms each year because they've amputated one or more, often in a door slam or via power tools, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"Xfingers2\"<\/a> Hundreds of adult X-Fingers are in use today. Just entering volume production, they come in 500 different configurations covering five different finger thicknesses, 16 different lengths, and myriad injury profiles. Didrick makes these to order using electric discharge machining (EDM) driven by SolidWorks files. \u201cWhen a patient needs X-Fingers, I pick a drawing, save it as STL or IGES, send it to a manufacturer, and it comes back a beautiful part,\u201d Didrick says. \u201cSolidWorks is one of the most amazing tools I\u2019ve ever used.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years of hard work invested<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long road for the former medical equipment salesman who has taught himself engineering, patent basics, regulatory relations, manufacturing, and marketing. FDA approval was challenging enough; European approval was excruciating. Applying for the patents alone took a year. \u201cIt\u2019s been difficult, but this is my life\u2019s work,\u201d he says. \u201cI do this 80 hours a week. I put everything into this.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing that came remarkably easy, however, was becoming productive with SolidWorks software. \u201cSolidWorks has been really important,\u201d Didrick says. \u201cI had the vision in my head and needed a way to make it reality. SolidWorks helped me do exactly that in three weeks. Because of the complexity of the product and of the dynamics of the injured hand, I\u2019ve been unable to find engineers who can help me. So it\u2019s me and SolidWorks. Without SolidWorks, this never could have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Didrick Medical relies on authorized SolidWorks reseller The SolidExperts<\/a> for ongoing software training, implementation, and support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 SolidWorks Helps Make Replacement Fingers a Reality CONCORD, Mass., USA, May 10, 2011 \u2013 The question, \u201cHey, Grandpa, where\u2019d your fingers go?\u201d haunted the man featured in the YouTube video for months after he lost two digits to a table<\/p>\n... Continued<\/a>","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":2334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[505,504,19,506],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solidworks","tag-didrick-medical","tag-new-function","tag-solidworks-2","tag-the-solidexperts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}