Ivan Long, CP(E), an O&P pioneer who revolutionized socket design, has died at the age of 91.
In 1974, while working with transfemoral amputees at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, Aurora, Colorado, Long requested a full-length X-ray of a patient standing in his prosthesis, and discovered that the femur in the quadrilateral socket, the socket most widely used at the time, was at nearly 20 degrees of abduction. He then found that 94 out of 100 similar X-rays showed patients with abducted femurs.
“I began taking X-rays of patients standing in prostheses, and that was the turning point of my life,” Long said in a 2005 interview with The O&P EDGE. He published his findings in the December 1975 issue of the journal Orthotics and Prosthetics.
From that discovery, Long developed what he termed the Normal Shape, Normal Alignment (NSNA) method. The first step was to design a socket that would support the femur in place and reduce the abduction problem. “In order to support the femur,” Long explained, “it is necessary to narrow the M-L dimension of the socket.”
In 1991, the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists (the Academy) honored Long’s work with transfemoral amputees by awarding him the Distinguished Practitioner Award. In 2005, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hanger Orthopedic Group Education Fair in Reno, Nevada.
“Mr. Long is a shining example of the best of the O&P pioneers,” said John Michael, CPO, FAAOP, in the 2005 interview. “He never lost his patient focus. He mastered the state-of-the-art of his era, then he had the courage and insight to violate the ‘norms’ to take state-of-the- art to another level.”
Charles King, CP, in an OANDP-L listserv posting about Long’s death, said, “I learned gait analysis in one afternoon with Ivan. Watching videos and walking in his home was more valuable than all the mandatory classes and course work I received at school. When I work with a patient or just randomly watching people walk in an airport, I acknowledge and value his teaching.”
Long is survived by his wife Carole, three stepchildren, five grandchildren, and a 14-month old great-granddaughter, who, according to Carole Long, “never failed to put a big smile on Ivan’s face.” A memorial service honoring his life will be held on August 17 in Westminster, Colorado.
To learn more about Long’s career, please visit “O&P Pioneer: Ivan Long, CP(E) Horse Trainer Turned Prosthetist” and
