Osseointegration
Osseointegration has improved the lives of a growing number of amputees around the world who've had chronic trouble with traditional prosthetic socket interface materials, pressures and a myriad of other issues. This procedure allows direct connection of prosthetic componentry to the bone, eliminating the need for a socket.
What is Osseointegration?
Osseointegration is a surgical procedure during which a titanium implant is set into the long bone (femur, tibia, humerus or radius/ulna) of a person’s amputated limb. Once the bone integrates (or bonds) to the surface of the implant, an abutment is anchored to the implant. Specialty adapters allow attachment of traditional prosthetic components to this abutment as it exits the skin at the distal end of the limb.
How it Works
Traditional prosthetic componentry attaches to the abutment through specialty adapters, completely eliminating the need for a socket. While this creates a number of considerable benefits it comes with certain considerations as well.
Considerations
Osseointegration comes with a number of unique considerations including graduated post-operative rehabilitation, increased risk of infection, potential surgical complications, increased hygiene management, functional component requirements and risk of complications with certain high impact activities.
Benefits
Some benefits of Osseointegration include reduction of soft tissue breakdown and perspiration caused by traditional prosthetic sockets, improved balance and proprioception (awareness of where your limb is in space), improved range of motion, simplified donning/doffing, and the elimination of the need to manage volume fluctuations within a conventional prosthetic socket.
We gratefully and respectfully acknowledge that Russell Prosthetics operates on the unceded territory of the Qayqayt First Nations.