What branch of medicine works with prosthetic limbs?

[TheKaz]

I was wondering, exactly, what sort of residency one would need to secure to work in this field?

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[dutchman]

I was wondering, exactly, what sort of residency one would need to secure to work in this field?

ortho or PM&R is my guess.

 

[soonereng]

ortho or PM&R is my guess.

it looks like the actual outfitters are allied health

Check out these links:

http://www.ncope.org/
http://www.abcop.org/About_Residency.asp

 

[deuist]

My guess is either orthopedic surgery or physical medicine.

 

[Tired]

I was wondering, exactly, what sort of residency one would need to secure to work in this field?

It kind of depends on what you mean.

The people who actually craft and adjust prosthetic limbs are called 'Prosthetists' and they are not physicians. I feel that they are really a combination of artisans and engineers. Their skill can mean the difference between constant pain and a comfortable prosthetic limb. Amputees will sometimes go through multiple Prosthetists until they find one with whom they are comfortable.

I know that Ortho does a lot of the amputations, but I've also been in cases with Vascular Surgeons, Trauma Surgeons, and General Surgeons who amputated limbs. In truth, although all surgeries require a solid understanding of anatomy and process, this is not the most technically demanding operation you will run across.

 

[Robizzle]

I'm not even in med school yet so I could be wrong, but I would assume Orthopedic Surgeons do the installing and making sure everything functions while the physiatrists deal with the day-to-day working w/ the patients sorta thing?

As for the actual building of the limbs, I think that's up to biomed/electrical/mechanical engineers.

 

[Taus]

not sure about the others...but PM&R has a portion of residency training dedicated to prosthetics and orthotics

 

[Tired]

I'm not even in med school yet so I could be wrong, but I would assume Orthopedic Surgeons do the installing and making sure everything functions while the physiatrists deal with the day-to-day working w/ the patients sorta thing?

As for the actual building of the limbs, I think that's up to biomed/electrical/mechanical engineers.

Yeah, not to be too rude, but you're just way wrong. Orthopedic Surgeons have nothing to do with the "installation and making sure everything functions." Ortho farms that out, because every prosthetic is either custom made or custom adjusted, and no surgeon wants to deal with that.

As to the "building", see my previous post about Prosthetists. They have their own body of literature, and their own special training.

 

[mjl1717]

I'm not even in med school yet so I could be wrong, but I would assume Orthopedic Surgeons do the installing and making sure everything functions while the physiatrists deal with the day-to-day working w/ the patients sorta thing?

As for the actual building of the limbs, I think that's up to biomed/electrical/mechanical engineers.

Yes baby, nearly everything is this med/surg arena is specialized and sub specialized.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

urology

 

[Renkat2sj]

it depends exactly what you intend to do with prosthetics. are you interested in actually developing/creating them? if so, then you might look into a BVIS (what used to be called medical illustration has now been broadened to 'biomedical visualization' or 'biomedical communication- BMC- to include things such as prosthetics, animations, etc.) this was the program i originally wanted to go into, before i decided to drop art altogether and try to go just into medicine. but the school i was planning to apply to was UIC, one of very few BVIS programs and probably the best. there are three departments you can choose from to go into- animation, illustration or prosthetics. the guy i met when i visited there makes lifelike facial prosthetics that have been used in movies, as well as prosthetics he makes for patients. really cool stuff.

anyway, if this is NOT what you were referring to . . . oops, sorry. 🙂 but if this DOES sound like what you were looking for, feel free to PM me or reply here and i'll tell you more than you probably ever needed or wanted to know about BVIS.

 

[GlobalMD]

At the (pediatric orthopedic) hospital where I work, prosthesis fitting is more of an interdisciplinary process. The ortho docs are of course involved, but so are the prosthetic lab folks, and psychology, etc. I think they often check the kids into the hospital for a few weeks for the fitting (especially if they're younger)...But as far as crafting the limb, I agree; at least at our hospital, the prosthetic people do it, and they have various special programs they go through to that end.

 

[soonereng]

http://www.ric.org/
http://www.liberatingtech.com/

These guys do some way cool stuff with prosthetics...bionic arms...sweet! The rehab institute worked with a company called Liberating Technologies to develop the bionic arm that works through nerve reinnervation in the chest which is then processed by a Digital Signal Processor so that the amputee doesn't have to totally relearn motions. It uses the body's natural wiring. From an engineering standpoint this stuff is awesome (I am currently an engineer starting med school in the fall). Maybe I should look into this field, but personally I would probably do ortho for the residency (if I could get one) rather than the PM&R.

 

[DigableCat]

Amputations/Prosthetics

Springing Forward With New Technology

 

[RxnMan]

I was wondering, exactly, what sort of residency one would need to secure to work in this field?

PM&R. They select what prosthetics patients get and makes sure it is working correctly. There are allied health folks that shape the prosthesis, but the rehab docs run the show. They are also involved in designing new ones, including those with sensation feedback.

Ortho and PM&R overlap in the field of gait and gait analysis, which is why some people may think ortho in this case. They may also think ortho because they often install "hardware" : pins, screws, and plates, but these are very different from prosthetics, which would be part of an amputee's rehabilitation.

 

[Antiviral22]

Hi Everyone ... good points so far, but I want to add one more thing:

Remember that the physical therapist trains the patient to use the prosthesis created/modified by the orthotist. Frequently the PT also helps in the decision making process of what components are necessary for the patient's functional limitations and desired functional goals. The PT usually ends up spending the most time with the patient and their "new limb" and consequently they are most often the stimulus for a modification if they notice pressure points, asymmetry, malfunction etc etc during their exam.