Re: PC Terminology Test
Description
Collection
Title:
Re: PC Terminology Test
Text:
This is on reply to an e-mail by Robert Rhodes regarding the use of the word
brace to mean orthosis.
Robert:
In spite of having considerable respect for you, I have to differ with you on
this issue. I've thought a lot about the use of the word brace in our
profession.
Writing of the common practice of calling an orthotic device a brace but a
prosthetic device a prosthesis, you say: Invariably, when I ask an
orthotist why, I'm told that, 'If I called it an orthosis they wouldn't
understand what I was talking about.' I can only infer from this that
orthotists consider their patients to be of lower intelligence than
prosthetic patients.
There might be other reasons, Bob. For example:
1. There isn't an equivalent word for brace in prosthetics. Limb doesn't
work because that is the name for what we are replacing. Artificial limb is
too long and, besides, it isn't really accurate. It's a replacement limb, not
an artificial limb. Replacement limb, then, might be suitable, but it is
also ambiguous. It could mean a limb or part of a limb from another living
being. Prosthetic limb means exactly what we want to say, but the same
people who can understand that can also understand prosthesis.
2. The word prosthesis is much more widely used on our lexicon than is the
word orthosis. It isn't a matter of the intelligence the person to whom we
are communicating; it is a matter of the prevalence of the respective words.
Prosthetic is widely used in professions other than ours. Even some
physicians with whom we work do not readily understand the words orthotics
and orthosis -- although most know who an orthotist is -- and they almost
never distinguish between the singular orthosis and the plural orthoses.
Most forms of the word prosthesis, on the other hand, are readily
understood by almost all.
3. Confusion created by podiatrists, who have long used the adjective
orthotic as a noun meaning orthosis has diluted the usefulness of the
word orthosis. This is an unfortunate curve in the evolution of the
language of our profession, but it has occured and we are stuck with it.
After much consideration, I have taken to using the term Prosthetic Limbs --
Orthopedic Braces to advertise what it is that I do. This seems to me to be
a middle-of-the-road solution; it is both understandable and professional, in
my opinion.
I was going to send this e-mail to Robert alone as a response to his posting,
but I have chosen to post it to the listserve in an effort to get feedback on
these thoughts I have long held but never expressed.
Thank you all. And thank you, Robert, for introducing the subject and for
your thoughts.
David Hendricks, CPO
brace to mean orthosis.
Robert:
In spite of having considerable respect for you, I have to differ with you on
this issue. I've thought a lot about the use of the word brace in our
profession.
Writing of the common practice of calling an orthotic device a brace but a
prosthetic device a prosthesis, you say: Invariably, when I ask an
orthotist why, I'm told that, 'If I called it an orthosis they wouldn't
understand what I was talking about.' I can only infer from this that
orthotists consider their patients to be of lower intelligence than
prosthetic patients.
There might be other reasons, Bob. For example:
1. There isn't an equivalent word for brace in prosthetics. Limb doesn't
work because that is the name for what we are replacing. Artificial limb is
too long and, besides, it isn't really accurate. It's a replacement limb, not
an artificial limb. Replacement limb, then, might be suitable, but it is
also ambiguous. It could mean a limb or part of a limb from another living
being. Prosthetic limb means exactly what we want to say, but the same
people who can understand that can also understand prosthesis.
2. The word prosthesis is much more widely used on our lexicon than is the
word orthosis. It isn't a matter of the intelligence the person to whom we
are communicating; it is a matter of the prevalence of the respective words.
Prosthetic is widely used in professions other than ours. Even some
physicians with whom we work do not readily understand the words orthotics
and orthosis -- although most know who an orthotist is -- and they almost
never distinguish between the singular orthosis and the plural orthoses.
Most forms of the word prosthesis, on the other hand, are readily
understood by almost all.
3. Confusion created by podiatrists, who have long used the adjective
orthotic as a noun meaning orthosis has diluted the usefulness of the
word orthosis. This is an unfortunate curve in the evolution of the
language of our profession, but it has occured and we are stuck with it.
After much consideration, I have taken to using the term Prosthetic Limbs --
Orthopedic Braces to advertise what it is that I do. This seems to me to be
a middle-of-the-road solution; it is both understandable and professional, in
my opinion.
I was going to send this e-mail to Robert alone as a response to his posting,
but I have chosen to post it to the listserve in an effort to get feedback on
these thoughts I have long held but never expressed.
Thank you all. And thank you, Robert, for introducing the subject and for
your thoughts.
David Hendricks, CPO
Citation
“Re: PC Terminology Test,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 7, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/211828.
