To enhance your experience at the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) National Assembly, being held October 7-10 in San Antonio, this Online Exclusive presents additional details about several session presentations to take you beyond the Assembly schedule. We hope the details enhance your experience at the Assembly or provide you with more insight into the proceedings.
Orthotic Symposium: Contemporary Orthotic Management of Muscle Weakness
Rahila Ansari, MD; Gary Bedard, CO, FAAOP; Andreas Kannenberg, MD, PhD
The presenters will discuss muscular diseases and their orthotic management, with a goal of restoring walking function. In the first portion, Ansari, a neurologist with the Cleveland Clinic and the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, will discuss the classification and clinical presentation of myopathies and history of bracing. Kannenberg, the medical director at Ottobock, will then present evidence for bracing, specifically addressing AFOs, KAFOs, stance control orthoses, and the C-Brace. The last section will be a presentation of case studies led by Bedard with Becker Orthopedics.
Outcomes Symposium
Lee Childers, PhD, MSPO, CP, Assistant Professor, Prosthetics and Orthotics Alabama State University, College of Health Sciences, Department of Prosthetics & Orthotics; Goeran Fiedler, PhD; Keith Frost, CPO, Methodist Orthotics and Prosthetics; Michael Wininger, PhD; Jason Kahle, MSMS, CPO, FAAOP, Westcoast Brace & Limb; Tyler Klenow, MSOP, CPT, Resident Prosthetist/Board Eligible Orthotist, James A. Haley VAMC; Cara Negri, CP; Robert Engelen, DO, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
As part of the symposium, Fiedler will talk about a study that investigated whether variance between consecutive prosthesis steps is correlated to prosthesis alignment quality. Such information could be helpful for the purposes of devising an objective and repeatable method for alignment assessment and optimization. For the study, which was supported by an AOPA pilot grant, Fiedler and his team of researchers measured a number of gait variables by means of a prosthesis-integrated load cell in a sample of 12 people who use transtibial prostheses. “The results are somewhat promising in that the hypothesized correlations were found for some, but not all, of the investigated variables,” said Fiedler. “We believe that future studies are called for to confirm those findings in a larger sample and possibly using refined concepts of variance.”
Prosthetic Symposium: Socket Fit Measurement to Improve Patient Outcomes and Promote Residual Limb Health
Jeffrey Denune, CP; Todd Farrell, PhD; Cameron Rink, PhD; Matthew Wernke, PhD
The symposium will provide clinicians with an understanding of the physiological pathways leading to skin breakdown and ulceration and share the latest developments in quantifying how well a socket fits the residual limb so that clinicians can make the best decisions about socket designs.
Rink will present a literature review of articles aimed at understanding the physiological pathways that result in skin irritation, breakdown, and ulceration related to the prosthetic socket environment. Farrell will present his work that analyzes socket fit through the objective measurement of performance and will include a test that compares how well-coupled the socket is to the underlying anatomy. Denune and Wernke will present clinical and research evidence of a novel method to detect movement between the residual limb and prosthetic socket using the time-dependent vacuum pressure signature generated by the WillowWood LimbLogic Vacuum System.
