OSU Institute of Technology Orthotic & Prosthetic Technologies faculty, Mike Madden, was recently published in The Academy Today, a widely circulated publication in the orthotic & prosthetic industry, for his work on a canine prosthesis.

The Academy Today is a publication of the American Academy of Orthotist and Prosthetist, one of the ‘big four’ sister organizations that represent the orthotic and prosthetic profession. The Academy Today focuses its efforts on education and research within the O&P profession. 

This particular publication was dedicated to the Academy’s CAD-CAM Society and Fabrication Society, focusing on those two educational/research areas within O&P. 

Madden’s article, Using Hybrid Manufacturing to Design and Fabricate a Canine Running Prosthesis, focuses on applying CAD-CAM within O&P fabrication and how they used a hybrid manufacturing technique that blended both traditional manufacturing and additive manufacturing in a unique way to obtain the desired fabrication outcomes.

“The students are an integral part of why we’re doing the research that we are,” said Madden. “They are involved in the design and fabrication processes. We are showing them by doing CAD-CAM can be used in O&P design and fabrication. It also stretches their imaginations, when we use the knowledge they are gaining and apply it to an area outside where they traditionally use it, they gain a higher level of learning.”

Madden said they have had an opportunity to work with two canines during his time at the program.

“Working with the two dogs has engaged the students, it’s helped them to use what they are being taught and apply that knowledge to a unique and unusual situation,” said Madden. “That transference of knowledge elevates their comprehension and broadens the application of that knowledge.”

This is not Madden’s first time to be published. He has been published twice before; The Flexible Socket System as it Applies to the Hip-Disarticulation Amputee; Orthotics & Prosthetics; Vol. 39, No. 4 - Winter 1985/86 and Fabricating the Spiral and Hemi-Spiral Orthosis using a Composite Lay-up Technique; Journal of Prosthetics & Orthotics; Vol. 3, No. 2 - Winter 1991.

“It is nice to have the work we are doing here at OSUIT recognized by our peers,” said Madden. “I took it as validation that what we are doing is relevant to our profession and that our students are receiving an education that is not only preparing them for the present, but that we are also preparing them for the future. I see part of my job as an educator as needing not only to prepare them for today’s workplace, but I need to look into the future of our profession and prepare our students to be there as well.”

Madden said he is grateful for all the support that OSUIT, the O&P Technologies program, and Jennifer Block, who served as his initial peer reviewer and editor, provided. 

“Keeping at the forefront of what the O&P profession is doing is important to me because I know how important it is for our students.”