Prosthetic & Orthotic Products & Services

A prosthesis or prosthetic limb is an artificial device that is used to replace a missing limb such as the arm or leg, or even organs such as the eyes. Prosthetics is not orthotics, which is concerned with devices used to support and restructure muscular and skeletal deformities.

Prosthetics is an area that is concerned with the replacement of lost body parts. Prostheses are used in almost all areas of the body to replace parts that may have either been lost due to injury and disease, due to deterioration of the body or have been missing from birth. This may include replacement arms, legs, eyes, teeth, breasts (from mastectomies) and so on. It also includes internal artificial body parts such as artificial heart valves and gastric bands.

Orthotics is more concerned with realignment or modification rather than replacement, and is more specifically related to the neuromuscular and skeletal system. An orthosis may be used to control, immobilise, guide or limit a body segment for any reason, assist movement in general, reduce the weight-bearing forces to assist healing and other purposes, aid in rehabilitation of muscles and bones after a cast has been removed from a fractured area, or to reshape or correct the function of any part of the body to reduce pain or provide greater mobility.