Saving Money, Saving Time: Getting Prosthetic Care Right the First Time

When our patient Isaiah was 22, he had a workplace accident that resulted in the amputation of all four fingers on his left hand. Isaiah made the decision to have revision surgery and now has a wrist disarticulation amputation level. After doing his research, the first prosthetic care center that he visited was our Arm Dynamics center in Portland, OR, which is the city Isaiah lives in. He told our prosthetist there, Mac Lang, about his goals. Isaiah’s a bit of a gym rat and wanted to get back to lifting weights. In addition, he wanted a heavy-duty, multi-articulating myoelectric prosthesis. Our Arm Dynamics team submitted an authorization request to Isaiah’s workers’ comp insurance. But when Isaiah went back to his workers' comp manager, they let him know he needed to go to a different prosthetic provider for his care.

“So I went to the other place. And what they fit me with was bulky and heavy and exhausting to wear. I definitely felt like I had something foreign on my arm. It was hindering me more than helping me.” Since Isaiah had been to an Arm Dynamics center first, he knew what was possible, what was out there.

Now Isaiah owned a TASKA hand, but he didn’t want to don his prosthesis. Isaiah still went to the gym, but just worked out one side of his body. He asked his workers’ comp team if he could go to a different prosthetic care provider.

But again Isaiah was sent someplace other than our center. “I still wasn’t able to use my device. No one ever trained me in how to use it. The way they designed it — the fit, the internal electronics, it just didn’t work for me.”

Finally, after Isaiah appealed to his workers’ comp team again, they approved him to get his prosthetic care at an Arm Dynamics center. “I went in November of 2023, so three years after my accident. Now I’m able to use my TASKA hand, and they fit me with an activity-specific. I’m getting pretty efficient with both.”

“My previous experiences weren’t good. The fit was poor, the prosthesis would slide off. The prosthesis was way more cumbersome, at least 40% larger than the frame and socket I have now from Arm Dynamics. It looks great, it looks sleek, it feels good. And with my new activity-specific, I can get to the gym and work my back for the first time in years, chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps — my whole upper body.”

When Isaiah's first request to be fit at an Arm Dynamics center was denied in 2020, he never stopped fighting to go after what he wanted. “You have to be your own advocate. You have to make sure that you voice what you want, and what you need when it comes to your prosthesis and your care. For me, I found it difficult to get what I needed. The other places were getting away with a lot of mediocrity, and I’d done my research. I knew what was possible since I visited Arm Dynamics first. That’s the best advice I can give: You have to be an active, on-top-of-it advocate for yourself.”

We’re so glad that our clinical team was able to help get Isaiah two different devices that work for him and help him with his goals. If you or someone you know would like to learn more about how our Arm Dynamics specialists Redefine Possibility, please contact us. Our care model and years of expertise are what make us different. Not only do we fit people with custom-designed and custom-fabricated devices, we teach our patients how to use them. If you have any comments or would like us to relay something to Isaiah, please leave them below.