Pediatric Prosthetic Program
Infants and children require a specialized approach to their prosthetic care and depend on their parents and their prosthetic providers to patiently take care of their needs during these growing years. Limited communication skills, combined with rapid rates of physical growth, mean that pediatric patients require frequent office visits and more careful observation of their progress from month to month.
Prosthetic patients between the ages of birth and about 18 years will require a new socket and other prosthetic modifications at least once a year and should be evaluated by their practitioner every six months, with careful monitoring by a parent or caregiver in between visits.
Hanger offers pediatric services in upper and lower extremity prosthetics, typically due to birth defect, accident or amputation. We also offer specialized prosthetic adaptive or activity-specific prosthetic devices. For example, custom adaptations can be fabricated for musical instruments, swimming, basketball, baseball or fishing.
Growing up as a prosthetic user
Children are much more adaptable than adults. That is why infants who are born with a missing or partial limb, or children who lose a limb through injury or amputation, should be evaluated by a prosthetist as soon as possible. Often it is appropriate for infants and very young children to be fit with a passive prosthesis right away so that the prosthetic limb is incorporated into their developing body image and daily life. This will also help children socially as they begin interacting with their peers and help their friends to understand the prosthetic.
Fitting your child with the Insignia™ Laser Scan
One of the ways Hanger has made the fitting process easier for pediatric patients is with Insignia™, a three-dimensional laser scanning system. Insignia makes it easy to measure and fit pediatric patients for a prosthetic socket, brace or support. With a hand-held scanner and a computer, your practitioner can capture and store 3-D images of the effected area and then use these to cast the prosthetic socket, brace or support. Insignia images are exact to within one millimeter and the scanning process is quick, easy and painless. However, there may be some circumstances where your practitioner prefers to do a traditional cast of the affected area using plaster or another malleable material.