Overview
Targeted reinnervation has an efferent and an afferent component. Targeted muscle reinnervation is a method by which a spare muscle (the target muscle) of an amputated patient is denervated (its original nerves cut and/or de-activated), then reinnervated with residual nerves of the amputated limb. The resultant EMG signals of the targeted muscle now represent the motor commands to the missing limb, and are used to drive a motorized prosthetic device.
Targeted sensory reinnervation is a method by which skin near or over the targeted muscle is denervated, then reinnervated with afferent fibers of the remaining hand nerves. Therefore, when this piece of skin is touched, it provides the amputee with a sense of the missing arm or hand being touched.
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