Archive | Tony Wickman

07 January 2010 ~ 0 Comments

Back to the Future, Heavy Metal and Mad Max

In the early days of my career, plastic braces were the wave of the future, and conventional metal orthoses were “old fashioned.” But over the years, I’ve managed to find a lot of value in the rugged simplicity of the conventional metal orthosis. I was lucky enough to have trained when almost every brace clinic [...]

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01 November 2009 ~ 1 Comment

Step outside your comfort zone to make braces more comfortable

When I started out as an orthotic technician over 25 years ago, I believed you should always flatten the plantar surface of an AFO mold. That’s what I was taught because it was the conventional wisdom of the day. Then I had the opportunity to work with a group of physical therapy students. I felt [...]

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07 September 2009 ~ 0 Comments

Getting a hold on foot orthoses

Whether I like working on a certain task or not is directly related to how cool the tools are. If I have to paint a room with a paintbrush, I dread it and procrastinate as much as possible, but if a friend said he’d loan me a paint sprayer, the task takes on a whole [...]

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11 June 2009 ~ 0 Comments

Creating a custom cycling orthotic

A friend of mine came to me with an interesting problem. You see, this guy is a cyclist. I don’t mean that he likes to ride around the park on Saturdays – he trains every day. In addition to cycling, he plays tennis, and did I mention that he is an insulin-dependent diabetic? As the [...]

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10 May 2009 ~ 0 Comments

O&P By The Numbers

Knowing the cost of O&P processes will put the industry on top for the economic rebound.
It feels like the global economic crisis is parked at our front door. The good news is O&P is still a strong industry and when we have been confronted with issues like this before we have emerged stronger, more organized [...]

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