While we can state that we are the most experienced upper limb prosthetic care provider in the world, we cannot come right out and say that we are the best option for everyone who is looking for an upper limb prosthesis (though we think so!). Obviously, we haven’t been to every upper limb prosthetic care provider, and we know that different providers are going to work for different people. What we can share is what our patients tell us. Sometimes our patients come to us after they’ve worked with another provider. From their gracious feedback, we have learned why they prefer our care and keep coming back.
What it really comes down to is the difference in upper limb experience between prosthetic care providers. While most clinics do not employ upper limb prosthetic specialists, our Arm Dynamics centers exclusively employ upper limb prosthetic specialists. When there is a lack of experience, it may manifest in the following ways:
The patient may experience an uncomfortable or incorrect prosthetic fit
Jason Koger became a bilateral amputee after suffering an electrocution injury. He was referred to a local prosthetic clinic, where he met with a prosthetist who had experience fitting mostly lower limb prosthetic devices and lacked experience with upper limb prostheses. Jason was fit with two i-Limb hands. But “The sockets were so uncomfortable. They hurt me all the time.” He let his prosthetist know, but he was told he would just have to get used to the discomfort and that he would eventually develop callouses that would help with the pain. “Carrying something was extremely hard. Even holding a drink was painful.” The sensors that activated his myoelectric hands were not in the right spots, so opening and closing his hands was very difficult. “I basically put those devices in the closet.”
Once he came to our Arm Dynamics center in Dallas, the difference was “Night and day. And all of that came from having an upper limb specialist.” Watch Jason talk about his journey in his video below:
Emily Curry had a similar experience with her initial provider. Her first socket literally just fell off and simply “never fit.” Emily is an above-elbow amputee, so without a prosthesis, she had to do all her tasks with one hand. (Daily tasks were especially difficult because of arthritis in her sound hand.) That socket from her previous provider “sat useless for almost two years.” Now with her new socket, frame and single-motor myoelectric hand, she’s wearing her prosthesis an average of five or six hours a day. “It’s night and day for my balance.” There’s that phrase again! You can watch what Emily can do with and without her prosthesis in her video:
One contributing factor to these success stories is selecting a material like silicone for the socket. This, in combination with our Comprehensive Accelerated Fitting Process™, where we are often able to fit an initial prosthesis in just a couple of days, make results like these common.
The patient may experience delayed or prolonged timelines
We sometimes receive inquiries where people ask if they can please meet with us because they’ve reached out to another prosthetic provider who is not responding.
Our patient Tim Jackson had been going to a prosthetic care provider that took six months to create his prosthesis. After his doctor learned about that Arm Dynamics clinicians e work exclusively in upper limb prosthetics, he referred Tim to us. Tim has been amazed at our quick turnaround time for creating and fitting his new devices. Tim and his doctor are from Tennessee, but they agree it's worth the travel time to get prosthetic care at an Arm Dynamics center.
At our centers, we utilize a Comprehensive Accelerated Fitting Process™. This process gets you into a socket and into training with our on-site therapists within a short time, learning how to use a prosthesis right away and rapidly seeing progress!
Patients may be told they are unable to pursue their goals
Austin Anderson had recently been hired at his dream job: a tree-faller in Yosemite National Park. But after an accident happened, Austin became an above-elbow amputee. He went to a couple of different prosthetic providers and asked if a device could be built that would allow him to return to his job. Their answer was no.
Our answer was yes.
The despair that Austin felt when told “sorry, can’t be done,” versus the hope that we gave Austin — you might say those feelings were night and day.
Are you curious about what the most experienced, professional, holistic upper limb prosthetic care provider can offer you? We recommend you visit us for a complimentary consultation, either in person or via video conference. There’s no obligation — these consultations can help you learn more about the options that are available and how we can provide you with an experience that will allow you to walk out our doors with a well-fitting, comfortable, functioning prosthesis that you know how to use.
We hope you’ll reach out to us soon. Or you are welcome to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!
For more information, see related Arm Dynamics articles here:
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