What Otto Bock, RSL Steeper or TouchBionics always try to withhold from us are the bare facts of life, the profane tasks. But that’s quite alright, I am sure we can get them up to date somehow.

Because their employees may also personally have no idea what life is about in general. Some people, in demo videos of prostheses, proclaim “I can hold a bottle!” or they can actually hold a popcorn bag (without really getting it open) – but these are activities that don’t even require a prosthetic arm. Hell, I can hold a bottle too! But these are activities of no particular prosthetic need ANPPN that I do at night, blind folded, with boxing gloves on and two cooked overboiled spaghetti, 100 m against the wind, if you know what I mean. Those are no benchmark.

When the folks at Otto Bock got a misaligned hook back from me, they said something along the lines of “excessive forces such as exerted in some sports” were not covered by warranty. Sports? What sports. I jog and I swim, I don’t wear their stuff for that, why would I?

No, I tried to use the Otto Bock hook for work. They probably all earn so much that they can delegate the real work and have forgotten about it. At least, as far as I remember their remarks did not particularly convince me of them actually knowing what they are, or were, doing. They claimed their Otto Bock hook joint would be “wartungsfrei” in the associated PDF paperwork that I received, they labelled the product as “CE-conformant” and when one checks, that hook has a metal surface grinding on a plastic ring. “CE-conformant” would mean that their product is about what they actually claim. Now, as far as I heard they are closing their body powered department down for good – no wonder after the stuff they ended up producing, absolutely no wonder. But I disgress.

So, I had not used their hook for sports, but I had already realized a lot earlier that Otto Bock parts are not too interesting when push comes to shove. It never dawned upon me until today that maybe these boys and girls there should be given the unique chance to actually see what is going on.

Now I decided to video me going through one of these calcification-remover sponges because I figured, hey, you wouldn’t have thunk that. And check it out, this time I am wearing a real hook and a real wrist, not temporary makeshift provisionals.

For those that are interested in the details: I am wearing a V2P Prehensor, a PUPP+CH+EN wrist 1 (extremely sturdy and precise steel high tech fast ball quick lock), and a carbon fiber socket. The chemicals used are the most aggressive cleaners I could round up.

And so, here we go, unabridged: