Episode 2: Digital Technology in Prosthetics

To listen to the episode, visit Radii Devices’ Substack, or read the transcript below.

How do you currently use digital design technology in prosthetics?

John – I had a ‘through-hip’ patient in and I wanted to duplicate their socket, which would take a few hours with the traditional plaster alginate gel methods. But fortunately, one of our recently acquired prosthetists had the skills to be able to digitally scan that through-hip socket, which was then sent away for a cone to be made to the right shape. That was a massive, massive help from my point of view. It’s superb—but somebody very clever has got to produce that to be copied, and this is where I would have usually relied on my traditional hand skills and methods to achieve the outcome.

Gary – I’ve been playing with making check sockets on a 3D printer, and I finally get decent results from it, I really do. You really have to sit down and learn and try it. It’s trial and error until you are into a certain flow that works for you.