It’s still technically summer until September 23 this year, but the Labor Day holiday usually marks the unofficial start of autumn and a shift into our fall routines. It’s a change that means leaving behind summer vacations and days at the beach or the pool and embracing the routine of school schedules or, one of my personal favorites, weekend football games on tv. It may even tempt you to leave behind your favorite iced beverage for a cup of hot tea or that love-it-or-hate-it pumpkin spice latte. Speaking of which, by the time you read this, you may have recently enjoyed a late-summer cup of coffee with a colleague as you discussed advances in O&P or tips for improving your business you learned about in sessions at the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association National Assembly.
In this issue, our experts add to your knowledge with their reflections on areas of O&P lower-limb practice.
It’s well documented that ambulating with a prosthesis requires an exponential increase in energy expenditure, and “Every BODY Is an Athlete” discusses how acknowledging this reality can help clinicians reframe their attitudes about the definition of recreational movement and encourage patients to reach their personal fitness and rehabilitation goals.
While it’s been quite a long time since I watched my daughter learn to crawl, I didn’t realize how complex this developmental milestone is—and how different, but no less essential, it would be for an infant with limb loss. “Baby Steps: Understanding Infant Crawling” shares insights from a study on crawling and how infants with limb loss can adapt through this stage.
I rarely think of it consciously, but I must admit that the way I walk is certainly impacted by my mood—and no doubt those around me pick up on it too, whether they realize it or not. How does that relate to O&P? “Emotions and Gait” describes how students and new practitioners can become overwhelmed by the number of cues in identifying pathological gait and miss patterns that more experienced clinicians use almost intuitively. But even novice clinicians can easily identify differences in emotion demonstrated in someone’s gait and can begin to translate that to their clinical gait assessments.
In our final feature article, “Medicare Defines Orthotics and O&P Legislation Introduced,” we learn about how continued advocacy is making strides in policy, giving recognition to the realities of modern O&P practice.
Happy reading.
Andrea Spridgen
