A day as a prosthetist/orthotist
Your day begins in a specialist mobility centre when your first patient arrives. He is an elderly man who has lost some weight and his artificial leg (prosthesis) no longer fits him. You will need to look at the changes and then take a cast of his stump to make him a new prosthesis. Your next patient is a young girl who has damaged her prosthesis and needs a repair.
After a quick lunch break you are back to work and start by checking who on the hospital ward needs your help. There is a man on the orthopaedic ward who has fractured his spine, so before clinic you visit him and fit him a collar to hold his neck and head still so he can get out of bed.
You then see several more patients including a lady who has had a stroke and may need a brace to stop her shoulder from dislocating. Your last patient of the day is a young boy with cerebral palsy who uses leg splints and a frame to walk. They are too small and his walking has changed so you need to look at his muscles and see what is going on. You notice his muscles are too tight and so give some advice about stretching alongside taking new casts to make some new splints.
