Dr. Paul Scherer: Foot health is essential to the way we live.
We live on our feet.
Just about all the literature shows that the more we're active, the healthier we are.
And it's very difficult to be active without healthy feet.
When the foot hits the ground, everything changes.
When you put a shoe on, it even changes more.
And this is the source of some of the pathology that we see today in people's feet.
Our job here at ProLab is to build something that corrects that, and a functional custom
orthotic is usually the solution.
Every foot is completely different and therefore every orthotic has to be made for that particular
foot.
I started ProLab in the beginning because I could not find an orthotic lab that would
make an orthotic as accurate as I needed or as my patients needed.
Dr. Larry Huppin: As a podiatrist, my goal is simply to reduce pain and allow that patient
do whatever they want without foot pain limiting their activity.
We often have patients come in for second opinions thinking they need surgery, and I
would say a good 80% to 90% of the time, these patients do not need surgery.
With the right orthotic, we can alleviate the forces that cause the pain and allow them
to live their life pain-free.
There's a lot of variation in the quality of orthosis.
I know with ProLab, I'm getting something that is doing everything I've asked it to
do to get my patient better as fast as possible.
I use a three-dimensional laser scanner to capture an image of the foot.
I use the scanner because it gives me just as good an image as the plaster in a 10th
of the time.
One of the key aspects is to make sure that you are following evidence-based medicine
in prescribing this orthosis and that the lab is following evidence-based medicine in
producing the orthotics.
That's what is gonna provide that patient with the very best clinical outcome.
Alymar: Here at ProLab, the process begins when we receive the digital scan or physical
cast along with the prescription from the doctor.
If it's a digital scan that we receive, it immediately goes into our corrections department.
Paul: When we design an orthotic, we're putting in what's called a correction.
That correction changes the way the joints of the foot move, away from the pathological,
more towards the normal.
Alymar: With the physical cast, we take that cast and it is cut down and digitally scanned
into our system so that we can save a raw file of that cast.
From our tad cam corrections department, the corrected image is then sent to our milling
department, where we either mill out a positive wood mold or it goes into our other mill,
where we mill out a block of polypropylene and make the device directly from that.
Paul: Today there is a new breed of orthotics.
We have a new manufacturing system that's available to us because of the new technology.
It allows us to be higher quality, higher accuracy, and greater consistency.
We use vacuum forming because its accuracy is down to a 10th of a percent of variation.
The corrected model of the patient's foot comes out of the mill as a wood form, then
we take that wood form to another area and we heat up usually polypropylene or could
be graphite and we melt that material over the model of the patient's foot.
This creates an orthotic of the new shape rather than of the old shape.
Alymar: From the vacuum forming, we then go to a rough cut where the polypropylene is
cut around the form prior to grinding.
From here, the vacuum formed or the direct milled device go into our grinding department.
In grinding, we actually grind it down to the specifications on the prescription.
Vicki: When the orthotic moves to top cover, everything is cut to the exact specifications
that the doctor has ordered.
So you can add an extension, you can add a slot, wedges.
Because we are a custom lab, we can do anything.
At the final quality control, this is where our technicians match the prescription that
the doctor has sent us with the completed orthotic.
We work with brilliant doctors.
They send prescriptions to us because they want it made to their exact specifications.
Our technicians very meticulously check every component for accuracy and quality so they
can have the best outcomes for their patients.
Larry: When I scan that patient's foot and write a prescription, I have a very definitive
idea of how I want that orthotic to match that patient's foot and function, and I know
I'm gonna get that when I use ProLab.
Vicki: At ProLab, we have the perfect marriage of handcrafted and cutting-edge technology
for our manufacturing process.
Every step along the way is custom.
We don't use prefabricated shells or we don't estimate what the shape of the foot looks
like or what the size of the foot is.
We know what it is.
Dr. Larry Huppin: If I can actually provide my patients with an orthotic that really reduces
these pathologic forces, then they are back after activity faster, they're exercising
more, they're healthier, and their quality of life is just better.
It makes me feel like I did my job for them.