Everything You Need To Know To Find The Best Custom Prosthetic Solutions

Last updated February 12,

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Getting a prosthetic is a life-changing decision that requires careful consideration, expert guidance, and a personalized approach. With modern advancements in prosthetic technology, today’s options offer greater comfort, mobility, and functionality. Whether you need an upper or lower extremity prosthesis, choosing the right device depends on your lifestyle, activity level, and individual needs. At Comprehensive Prosthetics & Orthotics (CPO), we help patients and families navigate this process, ensuring they receive a prosthetic that enhances mobility, independence, and overall quality of life.

5 Things to Consider When Buying a Prosthetic

Choosing the right prosthetic limb is a significant decision that impacts mobility, comfort, and overall quality of life. With advancements in prosthetic technology, patients now have access to a wide range of customized solutions tailored to different lifestyles and activity levels. However, finding the perfect fit requires careful consideration of several key factors.

Before selecting a prosthetic device, evaluating comfort, functionality, environment, rehabilitation needs, and available technology is essential. Below, we explore five crucial factors to help you make an informed decision, ensuring you receive a prosthetic that best suits your lifestyle and mobility goals. Five factors to consider when selecting a prosthetic include:

1. Comfort & Fit: Finding the Right Prosthetic for You

The comfort and fit of a prosthetic limb are essential for daily mobility and long-term functionality, whether it’s an upper extremity prosthetic for dexterity and grip strength or a lower extremity prosthetic for stability and weight-bearing support. A well-fitted prosthesis should feel secure yet comfortable, preventing irritation, swelling, or pressure points. Innovations such as custom-molded sockets, adjustable liners, and advanced suspension systems help reduce friction and discomfort, ensuring a more natural and efficient prosthetic experience. While upper extremity prosthetics restore hand and arm functions, including myoelectric-controlled movements, lower extremity prosthetics focus on balance, impact absorption, and optimized gait mechanics for enhanced mobility.

2. Functionality: Matching the Prosthetic to Your Lifestyle

Your prosthetic limb should be tailored to your activity level and daily needs, ensuring functionality, comfort, and performance. Whether you need a lightweight, easy-to-use prosthetic for essential mobility, a high-performance design for running, hiking, and sports, or a bionic or myoelectric limb with sensor-driven movements for enhanced dexterity, customized solutions are available to fit your lifestyle. Advanced prosthetic technology allows for greater adaptability and precision, giving users the confidence to engage in everyday activities or more physically demanding tasks.

3. Environmental Considerations: Weather & Daily Conditions

Your environment and climate play a significant role in the performance and longevity of your prosthetic, as factors like humidity, temperature, and terrain can impact different materials and components. Excess sweating may cause discomfort and skin irritation in hot and humid weather, making moisture-wicking liners a valuable solution. Cold temperatures can stiffen prosthetic joints, affecting mobility, but heated socket liners can help maintain flexibility. Exposure to saltwater or acceptable debris can corrode mechanical components in sandy or salty environments, so opting for waterproof or corrosion-resistant materials is essential for durability.

4. Adaption & Training: Wearing Schedule & Rehabilitation

Adjusting to a prosthetic limb requires time, practice, and physical therapy to ensure a smooth transition and long-term comfort. After receiving your device, a gradual wearing schedule helps your body adapt, starting with short wear times that gradually increase as comfort improves. Working with a physical therapist can strengthen muscles, enhance mobility, and improve overall functionality. Additionally, periodic socket adjustments and prosthetic refinements are necessary to maintain optimal performance.

5. Advanced Technology & Customization Options

Modern prosthetics incorporate cutting-edge innovations that enhance comfort, mobility, and functionality, offering customized solutions for every lifestyle. Myoelectric and bionic prosthetics use muscle signals to create natural, intuitive movements, while microprocessor-controlled knees and feet provide adaptive responses for smoother walking. 3D-printed prosthetics offer a lightweight, fully customizable fit, ensuring maximum comfort and usability. AI-enhanced prosthetic limbs improve precision and efficiency, allowing for more seamless, responsive movements.

Choosing the Right Prosthetic with Comprehensive Prosthetics & Orthotics

At Comprehensive Prosthetics & Orthotics, we provide innovative, high-quality prosthetic solutions tailored to each individual's needs. Our expertise in prosthetic technology ensures that every patient receives a device that enhances mobility, comfort, and overall quality of life.

Utilizing advanced CAD modeling, cost-effective 3D printing, and smart prosthetic technology, we design customized solutions that align with your lifestyle and activity level. Whether you need a prosthetic for daily use, high-performance activities, or specialized functionality, our team is committed to helping you regain independence with state-of-the-art technology and compassionate care.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Custom Prosthetic Solutions. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

For individuals who have experienced limb loss, the prosthesis that delivers the best possible outcome will be the one that has a proper fit. An improperly-fitted prosthesis can cause discomfort and could even damage other parts of your body. 

While it may take some time to find, and then adjust to, a prosthetic device, here are a few tips to bear in mind during your search.

Four Factors to Seek in a Well-Fitting Prosthetic 

1. Composition That Meets Your Needs

There are two main types of limb prostheses: exoskeletal and endoskeletal. Exoskeletal prostheses feature a hard, outer plastic or metal shell resembling the shape of the limb, and are not easily adjusted after they’re made. The materials these prosthetics are built with do hold up well against a variety of environments and rigorous use, making them a good choice for people who enjoy the outdoors or perform weight-bearing physical labor. 

Endoskeletal prostheses have an inner skeletal structure, with a softer covering — often of synthetic skin. While these are a bit less durable, they have a wider range of motion, are more easily adjusted, and often less cumbersome. 

2. A Snug-Fitting Socket

To ensure a precise fit, a prosthetist creates a mold of the residual limb using fiberglass, plaster, or computer imaging. This mold is then used to build a model of the limb, around which a socket is formed. This socket is thoroughly tested using a diagnostic prosthetic to make sure it will provide the optimal comfort, support, and stability you need. 

As this is one of the most important elements of getting a prosthetic limb, fitting typically takes several appointments with your prosthetist, and can involve over a dozen separate fabrication procedures in the lab. While the process can feel drawn out, finding a team that takes their time to ensure the absolute best fit is essential to your long-term comfort, support, and functionality.

3. Ample Cushioning

For optimal comfort, the area where the residual limb meets the prosthetic must be supported with appropriate cushioning. Many prosthetists use an interface featuring a silicone gel or viscoelastic material to keep the skin protected and adjust pressure as needed.

4. Ongoing Support

Using a prosthetic device comes with a steep learning curve which calls for ongoing support, potentially including physical and occupational therapy. Depending on the site of your amputation, it may take several months before you’re ready for continuous use.

“The right prosthetist will collaborate with your other healthcare providers to take a multidisciplinary approach in your prosthetic care plan,” assures Eric Chen, Vascular Surgical Associates’ prosthetist. For example, at Vascular Surgical Associates, our rehabilitation program may include consultations from other specialists, peer visits with amputees who have successfully navigated their prosthetic journey, and a treatment plan involving specialized and individualized techniques.

The best prosthetics team will also provide continuous check-ins, as parts of your prosthesis may need to be replaced at regular intervals over the coming years. They can also help you watch for signs of a poor fit, such as blisters, difficulty moving the prosthesis, and too much movement of your residual limb within the socket. 

For more information, please visit Custom Made Prosthesis.