First 'feeling' leg prosthesis unveiled

The world's first artificial leg capable of simulating the feelings of a real limb and fighting phantom pain has been unveiled by researchers in Vienna.

The innovation is the result of a two-fold process, developed by Professor Hubert Egger at the University of Linz in northern Austria.

Surgeons first rewired remaining foot nerve endings from a patient's stump to healthy tissue in the thigh, placing them close to the skin surface.

Six sensors were then fitted to the foot sole of a lightweight prosthesis, and linked to so-called stimulators inside the shaft where the stump sits.

"It's like a second lease of life, like being reborn," Austrian amputee Wolfgang Rangger, told AFP ahead of Monday's media launch.

The former teacher, who lost his right leg in 2007 after suffering a blood clot caused by a cerebral stroke, has spent the last six months testing the new prosthesis.

"It feels like I have a foot again. I no longer slip on ice and I can tell whether I walk on gravel, concrete, grass or sand. I can even feel small stones," he said.

The 54-year-old also runs, cycles and goes climbing. When he moves, the limp is barely noticeable.

In addition to increasing balance and safety, the prosthesis provides another remarkable function: it has helped eradicate the excruciating pain Rangger had experienced for years following his amputation.

"I was barely able to walk with a conventional prosthesis, didn't sleep for more than two hours a night and needed morphine to make it through the day," he recalled.

But within days of undergoing the operation last October, the pain vanished.