Modular Concepts in Prosthetics/Orthotics

Abstract

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a module as ‘standard, unit, for measuring; (archit.): unit of length for expressing proportions, usu. semidiameter of column at base’. In prosthetics/orthotics, as indeed in many other engineering fields, we use the word to denote a component or subassembly of a whole product, each module being complete in itself and attached to adjacent modules at a standard interface by releasable fastenings. It is therefore a misnomer and perhaps ‘unitary construction’ would be a better term. By whatever the name, it was evident that a prosthetic system of this sort could provide a solution for the most pressing problem of the British Limb Service, namely the unacceptably long time taken to make and to repair limbs.

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