JeevanAsha Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre is the only NGO in India that provides free of cost prosthesis. We provide high-tech prosthesis solutions to our patients to give them more support and efficiency. The process of Limb Fitment at JAHRCis a short yet effective procedure.
We take a week to complete the procedure right from manufacturing prosthesis in our workshop to fitting the limb to patients and providing them with gait training. A six steps procedure is followed to enhance efficiency and make the process smooth and easy.
1. Patient Assessment
In the first step of limb fitment, assessment of the patient's stump is carried out along with a full-body examination to get information about the patient's general health condition. This ensures curating an appropriate and effective treatment for an individual patient. On examining a patient's stump, we recommend pre-fitting stump care or physiotherapy, if required.
2. Casting
In this stage, we take the measurement of patient’s stump in inches, and then, with the help of POP bandages, we create a replica of the stump. This is then used to make carbon fibre laminated socket. The POP mould obtained from casting is modified in our fully equipped workshop to give proper shape and size to the prosthesis.
3. Pouring and Modification
After casting, the POP mould is safely removed from the patient's stump, and the mould is taken for pouring and further modifications to our workshop. In this process, we pour the POP paste in the mould, and after a few hours of drying, the POP mould is taken for modification. This process is important as the mould is modified biochemically, giving it an anatomical shape finally. After this process, the modified mould is taken for fabrication.
4. Socket Fabrication and Alignment
The process of fabrication is an elongated procedure and requires precision. We design a carbon laminated socket from the POP mould and connect other parts of prosthesis. The socket is the heart of the prosthesis as it connects prosthesis with residuum. In our own designed prosthesis, we use socket to provide comfort and suspension. Keeping these things in our mind, we at JeevanAsha and Rehabilitation Centre create a double layer socket with vacuum lamination technology. The double-layer socket provides immense comfort and eases to our patients, making us a dominant and preferred NGO in providing the best prosthesis solutions. The inner socket is made from flexible foam. This foam is used to give comfort to the patients by protecting patients’ stump from possible skin problems. Moreover, it is waterproof and helps in making prosthesis comfortable for use. The outer socket of the prosthesis is made from carbon lamination, which is connected to other parts of the prosthesis. After the process of fabrication, we move to the final stage of alignment in limb fitment process.
5. Assembling and Alignment
The process of alignment is the crucial stage in prosthesis development. In this stage, all the finished parts are first assembled. This process is considered critical as wrong assembling can spoil the entire prosthesis. Therefore, this stage requires immense focus, as well as supervision. We have specially trained staff for the assembling stage. After this stage, the prosthesis is ready for testing and is taken to gait training rooms.
The whole procedure of prosthesis development and fitting is divided into five different stages. All these procedures are carried out on our premises under the supervision of our highly skilled doctors. This whole procedure is completed in 3-4 days varying from patient to patient.
6. Gait Training
The completed prosthesis is now tested on the patient in this stage. Training is considered the most important part of limb fitment at our hospital. This is so because even with a good prosthesis, a patient will not be able to walk if he/she has not completed gait training. In gait training, we provide different types of training to our patients, like weight-bearing training, straight walking training, and other exercises, so that they can understand the use of prosthesis and can learn to work independently without the support of other. All these are carried out under the supervision of our doctors in the gait training wing of the hospital.
We, at JeevanAsha Hospital and Rehabilitation centre, give gait training the utmost priority as we understand its value to the patients. The process of training varies from patient to patient depending on their requirements and type of prosthesis. It usually takes 2-3 days for a patient to feel comfortable with the prosthesis, but we recommend a week’s training to all our patients.