1960 on
From one piece to modular – a limb revolution
The modular limbs in use today are a world away from the one-piece designs still in use at the beginning of the 1960s. In a series of short films by DOT Patients and workshop technicians recount their own stories and chart their progress…
Derek Campbell and Danny English met after treatment at Queen Mary’s. Danny English trains his dog for search and assistance. He is an above knee amputee. Derek Campbell was a physical activity advisor and double below-knee amputee. He sadly passed in 2019.
Active limbs, active lives
How carbon fibre can stop you looking like a scarecrow
Dog training with Danny’s C Leg and K3 foot
Showing your ‘metal’ – a conversation in the rehab garden
There’s an app for that… Danny gets on his bike
How Derek’s world changed overnight
Werner Herbst runs the Queen Mary’s workshop. His predecessor Stan East started at Queen Mary’s in 1967. The team make and maintain limbs, wheelchairs and more.
The workshop perspective
Direct control the holy grail
3D technology and electronics
Open sourcing innovation
A 1967 apprenticeship
The industry shake-up
Introducing modular legs
A day in the workshop
Linings and upholstery
A look at a spinal brace
And a big thanks to Interlink Communications who produced this short film in the workshop independently.
The Douglas Bader Rehabilitation Centre workshop
Chris Harwood has been a patient at Queen Mary’s since 1954. His hobbies include field archery and bell ringing.
A lifetime with Queen Mary's
Wooden leg to microprocessor
Owning your limb and your issues
Having a secondary leg
An amputee from four years old
Dr Vitali and an annual MOT
Leather on willow
Teenage self-consciousness
Field archery and acting
QMH Limb User Group
An archive of historic photographs and reading on amputation and prosthetics from the personal collections of Professor Kingsley Robinson FRCS
Kingsley Robinson Collection
Kingsley Robinson’s pioneering work helped establish Queen Mary’s Hospital as a world leader in limb surgery, design, fitting and rehabilitation. The Kingsley Robinson technique is a commonly used transtibial procedure for below-the-knee amputations, in which the calf muscles are brought forward with the Burgess technique, but the skin flaps are skewed in relation to the muscle.
Images in this archive, digitised and restored from Kingsley Robinson’s personal collection of glass slides are available to view by appointment with the Vitali Clinic at Queen Mary’s. They are a remarkable document of replacement limbs, their wearers and makers in the 20th Century at Roehampton.