Lower extremity care
is provided for all levels of amputation,
including partial foot, symes, below-knee,
above-knee, hip-disarticulation,
knee-disarticulation and hemi-pelvectomy
amputees. Our goal is to build a
comfortable prosthesis based on your
goals and lifestyle no matter the
level of your amputation.
The most
critical component in all prosthetic
designs is the socket. A prosthesis
can have all the latest high-tech
features and specialized components,
but if the socket does not fit
accurately and feel comfortable,
the patient will not be as active
as they’d like. Or the prosthesis
will sit in the closet.
The socket is the critical interface
between the amputee and the prosthesis.
Older, conventional
sockets had a rigid shape that
was uncomfortable---even painful---
for the patient to wear. Years
of research have led to a flexible,
lightweight socket that is contoured
to fit the bone, muscle, vascular
and nerve structures of each patient’s
residual limb. In 1992, John Sabolich
created the patient Sabolich Socket,
a true breakthrough design that provides
both comfort and stability for the
person who’s wearing it.
Scott Sabolich has taken this design
to the next level. The socket design
is proprietary to our clinic, and
our prosthetists have been through
years of training to be able to correctly
fit the latest generation of Sabolich
socket designs.
Below-the-Knee
The
below-the-knee socket has varying
degrees of flexibility depending
on each individual’s needs.
To add stability, it fits into a
lightweight composite frame. Some
sockets feature fenestrated areas
on the frame, producing flexible
portions over bony prominences and
muscle bellies, with the rest of
the socket having a more firm quality.
There are self-suspending suction
sockets with molded silicone gel
suspension sleeves.
Above-the-Knee
An important
feature of our above-knee socket
is that of "containment" of
the residual limb. A higher fit is
important for rotational stability
and side-to-side control of the prosthesis.
It also locks the leg into alignment
directly beneath the body. Perhaps
most importantly, the flexible material
and contoured design of the socket
make it comfortable to wear.
Many of the advances
seen in above-knee prosthetics are
applied to our patients with hip-disarticulation
or hemi-pelvectomy amputations.
Although these sockets wrap around
the entire pelvic area, they are
lightweight, flexible and trimmed
out enough to allow greater freedom
of movement than previous designs.
Partial foot
Partial foot prostheses have also
advanced in terms of design and materials.
Today’s slipper-type designs
are fabricated from silicone which
simulates human subcutaneous tissue
much more accurately than plastics
or rubberized epoxy.
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