So You Need A New Leg

So, you need a new leg! Well, how do you go about choosing what is right for you and get your provider to pay for it? First, what do you do? Are you active and in good health, or are do you have other medical problems that prevent you form being too active? If you are very active, the old standby leg may not be your best choice. Innovations in prosthetics have advanced to a point of almost like the bionic man. My latest leg is made out of the stuff used in the B-1 Bomber. Kevlar, titanium, stainless steel, and ultra high tech plastics, these are the makings of the next generation of wooden legs, and arms.

You and your prosthetic device manufacturer should put your heads together and make a choice on your new leg. What do you do? If you are a longshoreman you will need a leg that is super strong, light, and gives you the freedom to move. Are you a dancer? You need a lightweight yet very active leg. What is an active leg or arm? New technology has allowed for devices that actually emulate natural action of the effected limb. You may get a leg with a shock absorber, swivels, articulating joints and all sorts of stuff you may never have thought would be included in an artificial limb. New technology has allowed increase in function and reduction in weight. Even if you are an above the knee amputee, you can get a leg that works almost as good as the one you lost. Long gone are the days of oak sockets and blisters.

Too often, amputees do not or will not fight for their rights to be independent and exercise their choice in the choices of what is available in the prosthetic market. Sometimes it is just as simple as calling your insurance carrier and telling them what you would like. If you are a vet, you can argue with the clinic doctor. He is the authority you must deal with in order to receive what you need. You must be ready to justify your choice no matter who is paying the bill. If you go in informed of your choices, you stand a lot better chance of receiving what you need. In any choice you should be ready to fight for your rights. Why have a plain leg sitting in the corner of the closet, using it only for a flower pot? For a few dollars more you can have a leg you can run on, dance, go fishing, work a 40-hour week because the thing works, does not hurt or rub blisters. Which do your want? Although the choice is obvious the real world is not always accommodating. Your provider is trying to get off as light as possible. In other words, if he can get you to take a leg that cost two thousand dollars instead of one that cost twenty thousand, he feels vindicated and you can't walk.

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