For most people, a bump from a passerby on the sidewalk, a hike on an uneven trail, or even carrying a shopping basket in the grocery store doesn’t affect mobility. However, these everyday encounters and activities can present unpredictable challenges for those who wear a lower-limb prosthesis.
Understanding mobility challenges like these—and addressing them using feedback obtained directly from prosthesis users—is a primary, yet elusive, goal for rehabilitation physicians, prosthetists, and researchers alike.
It’s been just over a year since the Limb Loss and Preservation Registry (LLPR) flipped its shingle from “Coming Soon” to “Open for Business.” Co-founded by the Mayo Clinic with funding from the National Institutes of Health, the LLPR is now receiving data about amputee care from more than a dozen clinical partners, and new affiliates are joining at a rate of roughly one a week.
The theme of last Friday’s 2nd Annual Limb Preservation Foundation Symposium (co-sponsored by Amplitude) was “Hope, Help & Possibilities.” It was hard not to feel hopeful after the day-long event, which showcased the bounty of emerging treatments and technologies to improve amputees’ lives. There were sessions on mobility, mental health, pain management, osseointegration, next-gen bionic limbs, and a whole lot more.
What if you break a hip (or leg, or whatever) during a pandemic?
People still get hurt. Orthopedic Trauma and other UCHealth trauma services have taken steps to be able to put patients back together and keep coronavirus out of the picture.
By: Todd Neff, for UCHealth
Colten Fritzlan in action at the Tuff Hedeman Bull Riding Tour competition in El Paso, Texas on Feb. 8, 2020, after limb-restoration surgeries helped preserve his rodeo career. Photo courtesy Todd Brewer Photography.
What non-invasive methods can surgeons use to reliably differentiate between cellulitis and necrotizing fasciitis? What is the role of diagnostic imaging?: Advanced imaging has high sensitivity, specificity. Editorial. Orthopaedics Today