Orthotics/prosthetics

[Sarah Johannigmeier]

How much in depth would you recommend knowing different types of prostheses/orthoses? I feel like practice exams I have taken have focused more on whether or not you would use SMO versus AFO, etc. but the different types of prostheses for patients with amputations is overwhelming as I don’t see many patients with this diagnosis.

[Helen Carey]

Hi Sarah,
We feel that knowing specific prosthetic components might be unnecessary as the technology changes so quickly and is usually the expertise of the prosthetist. We feel that preparation should include an understanding of limb deficiencies (congenital and acquired) and best practice for the introduction of prostheses based on developmental readiness. We suspect that questions are going to focus on functional training using prostheses, such as identifying gait deviations and problem-solving appropriate interventions to address specific functional problems.

In terms of orthoses, we suggest understanding the function of each type of device: what motions are intended to be controlled and what motions are free to move. Orthotic questions are most likely to be directly related to clinical problems, like the example you give, where you need to determine the most appropriate device to address a specific issue.

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