Why It’s Essential to Receive Prosthetic Care In-Person

There are several organizations out there that will sell people a prosthesis directly. We receive many inquiries from people asking us if we can ship a prosthesis to them. But our care model requires that each patient has an in-person evaluation and fitting.

That doesn’t mean that you have to come in for the entire process. For example, we offer complimentary video consultations to those who prefer to have their initial appointment online. During the consultation, people can learn more about what options are available to them and what the full process of getting a device looks like. For individuals who become our patients, we communicate over video chat, phone, text, email … whichever of these works best for them.

Once a person's care has been authorized by their insurance provider, that’s when we ask them to visit one of our Centers of Excellence. We understand that it may be daunting to have to get on a plane for your prosthetic care, but as the most experienced upper limb prosthetic care provider in the world, we are confident it will be worth it for you. With our Comprehensive Accelerated Fitting Process™, we’re able to fit and train most of our patients over a period of five days or less. This essential time in-person is when key feedback for fit and function happens dynamically between the patient, prosthetist and clinical therapy specialist. All three parties play fundamental roles in ensuring a successful, custom-fit solution. After being fit with a diagnostic (temporary) prosthesis, our therapists begin to teach our patients how to use their device. If there’s something bothering the patient about the fit, function or alignment, the prosthetist is right there to adjust and optimize the device before the final prosthesis is created and delivered. This kind of interaction and immediate adjustment can’t be made through the mail, and it's a key factor in our patients' high satisfaction and success rates.

After we have evaluated and fit our patient, they can head home. Follow-up care can be conducted via video conference, and we can work with a patient’s local therapist. If there are maintenance issues to address, it's always an option to ship the prosthesis back to be fixed.

Why do we do all this? Because we are committed to making sure that when you walk out our door, you have the skills to use your prosthesis and that the fit of your prosthesis allows you to use it all day long. What good is a prosthesis if you don’t know how to use it or it’s too uncomfortable to wear? While we appreciate the passion of people who use at-home 3-D printing to make their own prosthesis, we know that chances are, those devices will ultimately end up in a drawer, uncomfortable and unused.

Are you ready to learn more about how we can fit you with a prosthesis that helps with your work and hobbies, feels comfortable and is something that you have the skills to use after just a few days — with minimal interruption to your life? Please contact us for a complimentary consultation. Video chats work great for us, but if you happen to be relatively close to one of our centers, we’d love to have an in-person consultation with you. Thanks for reading and we hope to see you soon!