The 1st Annual Optimus Prosthetics Get Up, Stand Up 5K took place April 18th, 2015 at Eastwood MetroPark in Dayton.

It was a great event with many patients, family members and friends taking part. This event helped raise over $4,700. With this money, the Get Up Stand Up Foundation will sponsor amputee kids to attend the Paddy Rossbach Youth Camp in Clarksville, Ohio. Thank you to all of the volunteers and participants who made our first 5k a huge success!

Here are a few quotes from various participants about this amazing event:

"Seeing the amount of people at the 5k was amazing. When I initially asked if I could plan a 5k I by no means thought it was going to turn into as big of an event as it actually did. My goal was 100 participants and we ended up having over 200! It was incredible!" -Kelsey Barris, 5k organizer

"I loved it. I was training really hard to run it. I got to run almost a mile of it with Aimee (patient advocate Aimee Eckert) and her friends. Just great seeing people with disabilities and without, strive and push forward. Kelsey did a heck of a job putting things together for sure. I love all of the Optimus crew, they have played a big part in me getting to this point." -Tim Duff, Dayton patient

"I thought the event went very well - very professional! A JOB WELL DONE!" -Bob Haas, Columbus patient

"We loved the 5k and had a GREAT time. Thanks again....you guys are awesome!" -Tammy Stewart, Dayton patient's mother.

Tom Rowe: Persistence, Patience and Positivity

We all face battles, both external and internal. Some are short lived. In the case of Optimus patient Tom Rowe, the battle has been a long, frustrating and constant one since he was a young teenager.

As a teen, Tom suffered through sever varicose veins that worsened over time. Eventually, a clot formed, creating an ulcer in his leg. After battling a painful stasis ulcer, Tom elected to have an amputation done on his right leg.

While in recovery, Tom's doctor, Dr. Brightwell, recommended Optimus and Tim Riedlinger, LPO and CPO. Tom always found Tim to be "personable, understanding and knowledgeable." He loved the fact that Tim was so concerned about his patients to the point of even showing up on weekends at the hospital and doing home visits as part of his care. Jim Scharf, PTA worked with Tom and he feels having the opportunity to incorporate PT with his prosthetic care was a great fit for him.

While Tom faced many struggles after his amputation, there was a bright spot: his ZipperCast. The "best thing since sliced bread," the ZipperCast allowed Tom to better monitor his sutures and keep watch for ulcers on his residual limb. In Tom's opinion, every doctor should want to use the ZipperCast for their amputee patients.

Pain, persistence and patience have all been a part Tom's life, both before and after the amputation. Being patient has allowed Tom to stay positive, even during the greatest difficulties. Through trial and error, Tom found his physical limits, and even though he has had other medical issues to work through, Tom's strong will kept him going.

"[You have to] stay busy, don't let your mind dwell on this," Tom said when asked about advice he would give to other amputees. "Remember that there are others out there in life who have it worse off than you and that you are still alive. There will always be something in life that isn't fair or just, but just deal with it and live life."

A Visit from Ossur

David Hauksson & Smati Waage of Ossur (Iceland) recently visited Optimus Prosthetics. Ossur recently acquired a large O&P practice in Norway and Sweden with 18 offices and over 150 practitioners. The breakdown of business is 15 percent prosthetics, 35 percent orthotics, 25 perent pedorthics, and 25 percent shoes.

David is a managing director of Ossur and holds the title 'Project Manager/Business Process Management'. Smati Waage is an IT consultant.

The purpose of their visit was to gain a better understanding of Optimus' daily processes especially with the use of OPIE practice management software.

David said of his visit: "Had the wonderful opportunity to visit Scott Schall and his team at Optimus Prosthetics in Dayton OH in February 2015 and was impressed by their focus on patient care and the level of professionalism built into their clinical and business processes."

We are proud to have had representatives from such a great company visit us, and are excited to continue working with them to find better ways to serve our patients.

Jim's Corner

Jim Scharf, PTA

The goal of "Jim's Corner" is to provide helpful information and be a resource for those helping patients fitted with prosthetics learn to use them correctly in order to enjoy a better quality of life as an amputee.

Combined Stepping

This month we will continue to progress our hypothetical patient, who is now ready to move onto combined stepping, having mastered all the components required for proper prosthetic gait discussed in all the previous issues. The patient can be in the parallel bars or using another stable object for the required assistance or even out of the parallel bars. It is important that as they ambulate, the step length of the prosthesis and sound limb are equal.

In addition to combining sound and prosthetic limb stepping, the concept of proper trunk rotation and/or arm swing is a component of prosthetic gait that is easily overlooked and can be difficult for the patient to re-establish. We are reciprocal beings in that when we ambulate our pelvis will rotate in one direction and our trunk will rotate in the opposite direction. Too often the patient is cued "to swing your arms" but it is not really arm swing, but the arms that swing as a result of the trunk rotation. Another benefit to re-establishing the proper trunk rotation is it provides increased balance.

Here is one drill to help facilitate or restore normal trunk rotation. The therapist is behind the patient and places their hands on the patient's shoulders. Using manual assistance or manual cuing, rotate their trunk by moving the shoulder girdle and trunk in opposition to their pelvis as they ambulate forward. Once this is learned, we can start the patient ambulating outside the parallel bars. The clinician walks behind the patient with hands on patients shoulders, gently rotate trunk forward & back in opposition of the pelvis.

Many times the patient may struggle with this, so next month we will review another drill to aid in this process.

Jim Scharf, PTA, Prosthetic Assistant/Gait Specialist

Jim has been a Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant since 1988. Jim has worked with lower extremity amputee patients throughout his career. He serves as a Gait Specialist and Liaison when prosthetic patients are meeting with their therapists. Feel free to contact Jim if he can assist you in any way at:jscharf@optimusprosthetics.com.