January 2008

Ability Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc., Evolution Liners, Ossur Americas, Touch Bionics and the Federally funded DARPA Project were recently featured on MSNBC.COM in an advancement of prosthetics article entitled Imaging A Bionic Future.

"We are thrilled to contribute to an awareness-type article for our profession," says Jeffrey Brandt, CPO and President of Ability Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc., headquartered in Gettysburg, Pa, "But all we did was what we do everyday: provide care to our patients with a combination of advanced prosthetics solutions."

When Paul Selmer lost his right leg below the knee in a hunting accident, a prosthetist fit him with a standard prosthesis requiring a waist belt to swing the wooden foot with each step. Selmer remembers it feeling like a "sandbag." That was prosthetic care 28 years ago. The gallery owner and small-aircraft pilot is now a devotee of a high-tech device called a PROPRIO foot from Ossur, which utilizes sensors, artificial intelligence and microprocessors to help him ambulate more naturally.

According to the Amputee Coalition of America, there are 1.9 million Americans living with limb loss, many of whom have benefited from breakthrough technological advancements in the past few years. Paul Selmer, Ability's patient, was fit with a custom silicone liner interface from Evolution Liners, as well as the PROPRIO foot from Ossur Americas. Selmer says this of the combination, "I marvel at how far we've come and how far we can go." Brandt adds, "The future is becoming now in prosthetics and the industry is realizing a new "normal" in prosthetic design and function."

Read the article featured on MSNBC.com