What Makes an Upper Limb Prosthetic Specialist Special

Pictured above: Upper limb prosthetic specialist Rob Dodson and his young patient, Kanoa, try out an activity-specific device for riding a bike.

The majority of our patients travel some distance to receive upper limb prosthetic rehabilitation at our Arm Dynamics centers. They travel from across the country — and even from other countries — to visit one of our five centers. Why do they do that when they might have a local prosthetic provider close to where they live? Why are they willing to get on a plane or take a road trip to come see our prosthetic team? The answer: because our upper limb specialists are so special.

They are experienced, they are rare, and they are passionate about the work they do to help people with upper limb differences thrive!

Experience:

We are the most experienced upper limb prosthetic care provider in the world. We ONLY fit upper limb prosthetic devices. Over the past 20 plus years, we’ve worked with thousands of patients, and each year, hundreds of patients visit our centers. While there are many general prosthetic clinics, they deal mostly with lower limb prosthetic patients and typically see one or two upper limb amputees in a year. This fact makes it almost impossible for a general prosthetist to meet the complex prosthetic challenges of an upper limb amputee.

Our prosthetists are trained and certified by all manufacturers of upper limb prosthetic components. Each of our prosthetists takes the time to become an expert on all available components, programming and fitting procedures. Our clinical therapy specialists are all full-time and on-site at each of our centers, working exclusively with upper limb different patients. That means they’ve acquired a wealth of knowledge on how to help people incorporate their upper limb prostheses into daily activities. Both our prosthetists and our clinical therapy specialists are consistently involved in research projects that focus on new and emerging upper limb technologies.

Rare:

The percentage of people with upper limb difference is quite small compared to those with lower limb loss, so there simply isn’t a lot of reason for clinicians to specialize in upper limb prosthetic rehabilitation. Out of the thousands of individuals that have been certified by the American Board for Certification of Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics, there are probably, as an estimate, currently only about 40 that have dedicated their careers to upper limb prosthetic rehabilitation. All of our Arm Dynamics prosthetists are board certified, and our clinical therapy specialists have extensive experience with upper limb rehabilitation. Check out the video below to listen to clinical therapy specialist Lauren Trent talk about how she became interested in upper limb prosthetic rehabilitation:

Passion:

Each of our clinicians would be more than happy to sit down with anyone willing to listen and talk shop. All of them are ultra-focused on what it takes to get a patient fit correctly and comfortably with a functional prosthesis. We have helped many people return to work with a prosthesis, given them the opportunity to perform everyday tasks easily and comfortably, and helped them pursue their passions.

Our specialized clinical team is why our Tennessee-based surgeon Dr. Dolan sends all his upper limb amputee patients to us:

While you do need to visit one of our clinics in person to be fitted and trained with a prosthetic device, we know that traveling is not always easy. We do our best to minimize the need to travel by offering complimentary consultations via video so that you can learn about all of your prosthetic options and meet the clinical team you’ll be working with.

We continue to communicate through phone calls, emails and video chats as we work on gaining insurance approval for your prosthetic device. Once we have pre-authorization from the insurance company, we schedule your in-clinic visit, which includes our Comprehensive Accelerated Fitting Process™. We are happy to help with a hotel recommendation that may be able to provide our patients with a discount. All our centers are near airports and city centers. If you are looking for something fun to do in the evenings while you are in town for your fitting, our staff can provide suggestions for a wide variety of activities. Once the prosthetic fitting is complete, we can often follow up via video chat, phone call or email.

Want to see for yourself what makes our upper limb specialists so special? Schedule a consultation. We can’t wait to meet you and learn more about what makes you special, too!

For more information, see related Arm Dynamics articles here:

• Getting Back to Work After an Upper Limb Amputation
• How We Help Our Patients Learn to Use Their Prosthesis
• Hobbies When You Have a Limb Difference
• The Process of Getting a Prosthetic Device: From Start to Finish
• Comparing Arm Dynamics Centers to Other Prosthetic Care Centers: Day and Night