I would like to give my perspective about the article “Empowering Patients With Therapeutic Gait Training,” in the September issue of The O&P EDGE.
I have been in private practice for nearly 40 years and have always believed that certified prosthetists should provide initial gait training and be compensated for it. I have mentioned this to members of the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association and the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists only to be shot down. The reasons against it were that physical therapists would be upset and that O&P practitioners can’t bill for it. They felt gait training was outside our scope, which couldn’t be further from the truth—and education is the key. We need to commit to being experts in gait as it pertains to O&P clients.
