Time Magazine Recognizes Utah’s Creation As Top Innovation Of Year

The quaking sailors brace themselves, fighting against their fears, hoping not to hear the legendary thump of the cursed peg leg. Thump, step, thump, step, thump. Despite their wishes, they can hear the approach of the wooden leg of Davy Jones.

Storytellers have long been able to use the image of a crude prosthetic to represent the unnatural state of a broken sailor. From pirates to Captain Ahab, the peg leg has been an effective way to unsettle audiences.

But that is not wholly fair to the community of amputees and Utah has stepped in to help change that stereotype.

Evvry year Time magazine puts together an annual list of innovations. The editors accept applications and determine the best, putting them into different categories. This year's list includes a bionic leg that they say brings the technology up to date moving more like a natural leg. It can even do stairs.

And what's more, this leg has been developed right here in Utah.

real prosthetic legs for lower-­limb amputees have been stuck in the 1990s

Says Tommaso Lenzi, an assistant professor at the University of Utah.

The technology is built to mimic the knee down to the foot giving the wearer the complexity needed to accomplish many of the tasks that a natural leg would have.

Those chosen to test the prosthetic have been excited at how well they have perfomed. Noting that they were able to even use a set of stairs. This advancement still needs more testing and FDA approval before it will be available to the public, but shows a promising future.

Yes, Utah, let's give a leg lift to those in need. I am so grateful for so many smart Utahns as we are positioned to be a part of an important solution.