I spoke to Sally Bowie who works for Touch bionics, a company whose bionic limbs are the most sophisticated prosthetics ever made available to the public.

Apparently the first rule of Touch bionics is ‘you do not talk about Touch Bionics’. Or that is say, you can talk about the company and what they’ve done to date, but you do not talk about what top secret new developments they are working on in their workshop which I can only assume is hidden in a hollowed out volcano and looks like Q branch. So although I was dying for Sally Bowie to tell me all about the brand new ultra super-sonic TM1000 prosthetic with blue tooth which they are presumably working on, she instead assures me that their work is centred on ‘finely tuning [their] existing products’ and working closely with patients to get the best results for them.

The gift of healing

Sally is relatively new to Touch Bionics having joined them about 18 months ago as a marketing coordinator. She comes from a background that includes health care, and tells me that she leapt at the opportunity to work with Touch Bionics. She speaks proudly of the company she serves, and was able to convey some of the immense satisfaction that she gets from seeing how Touch Bionics helps to heal people. ‘The big thing for me is when we go out and talk to patients. It’s mind blowing. They thought they’d never be able to do certain things again’.

Pioneers of recovery

To date, Touch Bionics have produced a number of different prosthetics, the most popular being the i-limb, a spectacularly sophisticated bionic arm that offers a whole new functionality to amputees. Its major selling point is that it is controlled by the mind. The socket for the bionic arm is equipped with sensors that can feel the muscles in the arm. Your brain thinks of opening or clasping the hand, the signal goes to your arm muscles and your bionic arm obeys. It sounds both pretty straight forward and utterly brilliant.

The Livingskin prosthetics are the other big seller. They are especially designed to resemble a human arm and be aesthetically pleasing, thus giving the wearer a new surge in confidence.

Modus operandi

Sally tells me a little more about how Touch Bionics work with clients, saying - ‘we have a clinic on our premises so people can come along and we can fit them on site’. She goes on to explain that Touch Bionics take great pride in the fact that they listen to their customers to let them guide the healing process as much as possible. And this kind of practical empathy is a big part of Touch Bionics’ success and emblematic of how it started out according to Sally.

And they have found that their prosthetic limbs have attracted attention from a wide and varied clientele. To the question – ‘what types of people do you cater to?’- Sally says ‘It’s very hard to isolate one particular demographic. We work with veterans who’ve lost limbs, people who’ve been in accidents, people who’ve suffered a serious infection, people who were born with parts missing, etc. It’s an eclectic mix.’

The growth of Touch bionics

It was recently reported on both the BBC and the Touch Bionics websites that 2013 was a highly successful year for Touch bionics that saw a revenue growth of 23%, achieving something in the regions of £12.3 million in total sales.

The immense technology definitely has something to do with it. But I feel also that Touch Bionics’ growth has something to do with the fact that we, as a society, are increasingly sensitive to the issues of health, healing and care. And it’s wonderful that the Touch bionics prosthetics have shaken off the clinical air that we used to associate with artificial limbs and instead carry a look that can rightly be described as ‘cool’.

And you have to wonder - what else is going to come out of the touch Bionics lab within a decade or two?