ORTHOTICS & PROSTHETICS

The Orthotic Department has been part of RLANRC for over 60 years when RRI began applying for and receiving federal research grants to develop special orthoses for patients. We have continued to provide these services, developing over 400 specialty unlisted codes for patients at Rancho in addition to the regular state codes. The quality of materials used including the metal portions are higher quality than those of other orthotic providers. This is part of our trademark. We have never patented any of our devices because many were developed with research funds and are made available for use to treat patients seen by other providers outside of RLANRC.

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There is long history of innovation, research and development done for improving the quality of patient's lives. Mobile arm supports, poly articulating orthosis, AFOS and KAFOs, TLSOs have been custom designed for our unique population of Post Polio, Spinal Injury, GBS, stroke, Muscle Diseases and our pediatric population. Several widely used orthoses were developed at the Orthotic Department. One system, the Wrist-Driven, Wrist-Hand Orthosis that was developed during the polio years, allows patients with hand and arm paralysis to feed themselves and accomplish various grooming tasks by providing a firm pinch between the fingers so the patient can hold a fork, pencil, or other utensil.

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Another orthosis, the HALO, developed in the late 1950s and so-named for the ring, which encircles the patient’s head, was developed to immobilize the head and neck in order to stabilize neck fractures. This system is used internationally and is often the treatment-of-choice for neck fractures. Moreover, due to the large diabetic population, we have continually strived to provide effective healing shoes through our research.

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Regarding lower extremity bracing, Rancho's orthotic department plays a vital role in the rehabilitation team to optimize patients' walking. One of the critical principles that we employ is the importance of providing some mobility at the ankle joint for most persons and the importance of controlling that motion for those with insufficient calf strength (see attached research article). This subtle distinction is lost on most external providers of orthotics or is lost in the drive to limit orthotics to less costly, off-the-shelf braces. While off-the -shelf braces are both sufficient and appropriate for some individuals, they are inadequate and actually worsen walking function for many patients. The Orthotics department at Rancho has a long history of providing the most appropriate and well-designed brace for each patient's individual clinical picture. Providing an optimal brace for walking almost always involves some modification of the brace or it's setting. The orthotists at Rancho are active team members during gait rounds and patient care. Having their expertise and interactions readily available allows a timely iterative process for necessary adjustment of braces that maximizes patients' mobility and can facilitate a more timely and safe discharge from the inpatient units and can augment recovery trajectories for outpatients.

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For many years our desire has been to offer our services to patients outside of Rancho. Now that we have a separate location near Rancho grounds Oust across Imperial Highway), we offer these services to the community at large. Our services and devices have been developed in our lab through 62 years of research and testing. Our goal is to provide our patients the most appropriate devices utilizing our expertise from our many years of research and experience. We have developed over 400 custom devices for individual patient needs. We have been privileged to develop the most outstanding Orthotic and Prosthetic appliances and services. This has been accomplished through many hours of research and development for our devices. This sets us apart from other orthotic and prosthetic providers in the following ways:

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1. We use only the highest quality materials.

2. Our employees are long term and highly specialized in their positions

3. Continuous research, development and education and partnership with California State University, Dominguez Hills

4. Government grants through the National Institute of Disabilities Rehabilitation and Research (NIDRR), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF).

5. Service to patients in a time efficient manner especially when expert immediate evaluations and modifications are required.

6. On site central fabrication to insure highest quality of both standard and highly specialized, technically complex orthoses and prostheses.

7. All of our Orthotists and Prosthetists are Board Certified in Orthotics and Prosthetics as is our Facility.