HOUSTON -

This year was life changing for a south Houston man who lost both of his hands when he accidentally grabbed a live power line on the job.

Scott Carriker is the first double hand amputee in Houston and back at work within 6 months of the accident.

Less that a year ago, he worked as an electrical lineman and was shocked accidentally gripping a power line.

"I was brought to Hermann Memorial with life threatening injuries, which resulted in the loss of both of my hands and both wrists," Carriker said.

That didn't stop him from accepting the circumstance and making moves. With family help, he found bionic hands, covered by workers compensation, that could be fitted in Houston by a specially-trained upper limb prosthetist.

"It's always exciting, there's never a boring day," certified prosthetist of Advanced Arm Dynamics Scott Spring said.

The revolutionary aspect of these prostheses is that aside from typical open and close movements, Carriker can make complex gestures through an app on his iPhone or iPad.

The app gives a list of movements to choose from and when Carriker flexes his muscles, his fingertips can bend and curl in ways standard prosthetics didn't used to do. For example, he can choose the thumbs-up shape on the app, rotate his wrist and the fingers sign such a movement.

Today Carriker is 100 percent independent because no movements are out of the question. He drives, eats, clothes himself, etc.

This technology has been available with Walter Reed veterans for the last few years. 

Read more at: http://www.click2houston.com/news/bionic-hands-get-new-power-through-smartphone-app/30190598

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