History of prosthetics

History of prosthetics

I am always on the look-out for stories and images relating to the history of
prosthetics. I have found some on the Internet, but would like to find more.
While I was with Otto Bock I remember reading an article from Germany on the
history of prosthetics in that country.

At one time I hoped our then National Office would set up a library that
would contain the history of prosthetics in the United States, but there was
never any money for these kinds of projects. Today many with our history from
around WWII have died and taken our history with them. Today our history is
being rewritten to fit the needs of our time.

I have collected a number of images on CD including a photo of a prosthesis
from 300BC that I use in a PowerPoint presentation. The presentation covers
from 3500BC to today, but I know there are many many holes in the
presentation that needed to be filled.

At one time OANDP.COM was going to have a sharing image library on-line, but
I have not head much of that is some time now.

With the Internet it might be possible for those interested in the history of
prosthetics to make contact and work on a joint project. It would be nice to
have a web site on the true history of prosthetics to share with our younger
generation.

I know as I look back at articles I see today's prosthetics industry in the
United States mirroring the prosthetics industry as it was following the
Civil War.

I enjoyed the recent article on the history of prosthetics in Russia.

Al Pike, CP