Is the ProHensor Like the Old APRL?

By Marins, Inc.

We get this question a lot. The APRL was important in the 1940s, but so were cars, and you would not choose a 1940s vehicle on today's highways.

The old APRL was a remarkable piece of engineering for its era. It came out of a time when some users operated prosthetic devices through cineplasty, a surgical procedure that created a muscle tunnel or loop the cable could anchor to and pull from. That matters because users were not applying the kind of grip strength many active users expect today, and the device was designed within those limits.

Later, the APRL was adapted to work with a figure-8 harness, which placed greater demands on the device. The cast aluminum and manufacturing methods available at the time were not capable of delivering the durability, consistency, or serviceability that active use requires.

When those devices failed, they failed often and in ways that were not repairable. They were not modular. They were not standardized. And repair could leave the user without a device for weeks or even months. That reality continued until the APRL was permanently removed from the market.

That history matters because the ProHensor came from understanding what that earlier device was trying to do, where it fell short, and what modern engineering could finally make possible. Better metallurgy. Better manufacturing. Better serviceability.

So yes, there is a connection. But the ProHensor is not the old APRL brought back. It is what modern engineering can finally create from a concept born in the 1940s, built for real life. The APRL mattered in its time. The ProHensor is built for the road ahead.