Bionic leg changes man's life - without surgery

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The options have been limited for people in need of an artificial limb, as the user must undergo nerve surgery for invasive implants.

But now, there is another option - a bionic leg.

You can hear Terry Karpowicz coming loud and clear, but it's that sound that has virtually changed his life.

"I'm not thinking of the process of walking, or the process of getting from point A to point B, I'm thinking just about point B and what I'm going to do once I get there," Karpowicz said.

Karpowicz is wearing a bionic leg. A new, advanced thought-controlled prosthetic, that doesn't require surgery or implants to work.

He can sit, stand, walk, and even take steps, and eventually will do much more.

"I'd love to run, I'd love to go from the kneeling position to standing position," Karpowicz said.

He lost his leg 40 years ago in a motorcycle accident and has been in different prosthetics since.

This, his doctor tells says, in unlike anything else.

"There are little sensors that sit on the top of Terry's skin so when he pulls the prosthesis on, they make contact we can detect tiny electrical signals called electromyographic signals, and we can decode them using algorithms that are similar to voice recognition rhythms through your phone," said Dr. Levy Hargrove, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

The bionic leg was almost five years in the making and is still not complete. The plan is to finish improvements and make the life-changing prosthetic available for everyone.

"We have an additional study that's we're just starting, it's a home trail, we'll have patients be able to take it out of this lab and use it at home," Hargrove said.

That project should be complete in four years.