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A Utah veteran is getting a new leg — for a second time. Bryant Jacobs believes the newly embedded prosthesis in his right thigh bone will eventually allow him to snowboard, hike and hunt as he used to before a roadside bomb in Iraq tore into his leg.

Nine other people in the United States will receive the same kind of robotic leg in a clinical trial in Salt Lake City. The first two patients in December and February underwent a first-of-their-kind pair of surgeries at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Jacobs, 35, and fellow patient Ed Salau tested out their new prostheses at the hospital Wednesday, standing and smiling for onlookers.

Doctors embedded a post into each affected leg bone, now connected to a mechanical limb attachment that is more advanced than most prosthetic legs.

Typically, amputees cap their truncated limbs with a latex sock and put it straight into a socket. For many amputees, the attachment is difficult to wear for more than a few hours per day. It often causes sweating, pain and frequent trips to the doctor for refitting if the wearer loses or gains weight.

The surgery is "going to change the amputee world — in a good way, in a phenomenal way," Jacobs said. It's not a small world. There are 1.9 million amputees in the U.S., according to 2015 estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bryant, a U.S. Army specialist from Herriman, was injured in Iraq in December 2004 when a bomb exploded nearby, ripping through his legs and torso. He decided to have the leg amputated in 2014 after a decade of surgeries and rehabilitation that did little to limit his pain.

The V.A. surgeons believe the new prosthesis will eliminate some of the extra physical effort Jacobs and others must put into walking. The leg post picks up the natural vibrations of the bone, they said, communicating with the machine leg. It's similar to a hip-replacement implant that attaches to a bone.

The V.A. study is expected to help federal regulators decide whether to approve the surgery or undertake further research on different designs. The Food and Drug Administration gave the Salt Lake City doctors special permission to perform the procedure, which has been performed in other countries such as Australia, Germany and England, but never legally in the U.S. The Salt Lake City operations come after a decade of preliminary research on the technology.

The team led by lead surgeons Erik Kubiak and Jayant Agarwal acknowledges there could be long-term infection risks. But, Jacobs says, it's a risk he's willing to take.

aknox@sltrib.com

Twitter: @anniebknox