Targeted Muscle Reinnervation
Also written as: TMR — Targeted Muscle Reinnervation
A surgical procedure in which residual peripheral nerves are redirected to reinnervate spare muscle segments, enabling intuitive myoelectric prosthetic control and reducing neuroma pain.
Full Definition
Targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) involves surgically coaptating amputated nerve ends to nearby motor nerve branches supplying otherwise functionless muscle groups in or near the residual limb. The reinnervated muscles generate electromyographic signals proportional to the user's motor intent, which are then decoded to control a myoelectric prosthesis. TMR also reduces the incidence of symptomatic neuromas and phantom limb pain. In editorial contexts, the abbreviation TMR should be defined at first use; it may be confused with 'transcranial magnetic resonance' or other TMR expansions in different medical fields. The procedure was pioneered at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and is increasingly described in upper-limb prosthetics literature.
Usage
Usage note: Always expand TMR at first use; the abbreviation is shared with other medical and technical terms and must be contextualised for prosthetics documents.
In Context
- "Following targeted muscle reinnervation, the patient demonstrated improved myoelectric control of a multifunction prosthetic hand." — Surgical outcome case report
- "The author introduced 'TMR' without expansion; the editor queried whether this referred to targeted muscle reinnervation or another procedure." — Editorial query on clinical manuscript