From Injury To Innovation: Building A Practical Myoelectric Hand with Ryan Saavedra

Send us Fan Mail Socket comfort is still the problem that won’t go away, and “good hands” can only take you so far when patients need consistency, speed, and healthier tissue loading. We sit down with Matt Wernke, Director of Research and Development at WillowWood, to talk about what changes when prosthetic socket design becomes measurable and repeatable instead of mostly interpretive. Matt walks us through the real origin story: a Department of Defense funded clinical trial built to answer ...

Send us Fan Mail AOPA always shows you what’s next, but the real story is what people are trying to fix right now. We walk through our on-the-ground takeaways from the exhibit hall and the education tracks, starting with the shift from “look what we can print” to “how do we remove the worst friction in prosthetics and orthotics.” AI is popping up as a serious workflow tool for documentation, admin, and turnaround time, but we also talk about the non-negotiables: HIPAA, patient health informat...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever left a conference thinking, “I talked to a lot of people but learned very little,” this one is for you. We’re getting practical about AOPA and how to work a prosthetics and orthotics trade show with purpose, so you come home with better contacts, clearer buying decisions, and real ideas you can apply in your clinic or lab. We share our rules for protecting your calendar: don’t take in-person meetings you could handle online, cluster appointments by location, a...

Send us Fan Mail The hardest part of orthotics and prosthetics is not always the clinical decision. Sometimes it’s getting paid, staying compliant, and keeping a clinic running while everything around you changes. We sit down with Teri Kuffel, JD, Executive Director of the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA), to talk about the business engine behind patient care and why so many of today’s practice challenges cannot be solved inside the walls of a single facility. Teri shares ...

Send us Fan Mail We welcome prosthetist and Niagara Foot inventor Rob Gabourie for a fascinating conversation spanning more than five decades of prosthetic innovation. Rob shares how his career began after his brother's industrial accident, reflects on hand-carving wooden sockets for World War II veterans, and explains how the demands of Vietnam veterans helped accelerate advances in prosthetic technology. Throughout the discussion, he emphasizes a philosophy of practical problem-solvin...