Pro-Flex w/Silicone Issues
Warren Mays
Description
Collection
Title:
Pro-Flex w/Silicone Issues
Creator:
Warren Mays
Date:
9/18/2012
Text:
Hello All,
After 13+ years of successfully working with Pro-Flex with Silicone, we are
having what has become a recurring issue. We have had the seam partially
fail on three sockets over the past several months. It does not completely
separate, but the seam usually starts to come apart at the proximal lateral
trimline. Today, we had someone come in where the seam had completely
separated in about a ¾” long section at the very bottom of the socket. This
resulted in lack of suction/suspension.
We have looked at all of our processes, and don’t find anything we have
changed about the way we pull our plastic. I have personally wondered if we
were perhaps getting the plastic too hot before pulling it, but have no way
of knowing if this is actually the cause. We are paying better attention to
this, and making sure that we do not allow the plastic to start to turn
clear before we pull it. Another possibility is that the chemical
composition of the material has been changed or modified. Again, I have no
way of knowing if this is the case.
Have any of the rest of you experienced this issue within the past year? If
so, have you resolved it, or is it still an issue?
Thank you for your time.
Warren R Mays, CPO
After 13+ years of successfully working with Pro-Flex with Silicone, we are
having what has become a recurring issue. We have had the seam partially
fail on three sockets over the past several months. It does not completely
separate, but the seam usually starts to come apart at the proximal lateral
trimline. Today, we had someone come in where the seam had completely
separated in about a ¾” long section at the very bottom of the socket. This
resulted in lack of suction/suspension.
We have looked at all of our processes, and don’t find anything we have
changed about the way we pull our plastic. I have personally wondered if we
were perhaps getting the plastic too hot before pulling it, but have no way
of knowing if this is actually the cause. We are paying better attention to
this, and making sure that we do not allow the plastic to start to turn
clear before we pull it. Another possibility is that the chemical
composition of the material has been changed or modified. Again, I have no
way of knowing if this is the case.
Have any of the rest of you experienced this issue within the past year? If
so, have you resolved it, or is it still an issue?
Thank you for your time.
Warren R Mays, CPO
Citation
Warren Mays, “Pro-Flex w/Silicone Issues,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 2, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/233977.
