Beyond Limits Rehabilitation Prosthetics

Losing a limb can be devastating, but it doesn’t have to be defeating. Our Beyond Limits Prosthetics program is designed to go above and beyond to help you through the process of regaining your function and taking back your lifestyle. As one of the most technically advanced programs in Greater Cincinnati, Beyond Limits specializes in treating both lower and upper limb loss. Our prosthetists and physical therapists will work together with you to help identify the best prosthesis for your activity level and occupational needs. By collaborating as a team, we can help guide you on the strengths and benefits between body powered, myoelectric devices or bionic technologies. If need be, we can also assist you with a specialized terminal device, customized for your occupation, sport or hobby. We’ll outline all of your options so you can make the choice that is best for you.

Beyond Limits proudly supports our Veterans, and have adopted the VA’s commitments to prosthetic care:

To provide the highest quality, comprehensive, interdisciplinary care.
To offer the most advanced medical devices and products that are commercially available.
To promote advancements in rehabilitative care and evidence-based treatment for our prosthetic patients

What To Expect Along The Way

At Beyond Limits Prosthetics, we are honored to partner with Cincinnati’s leading Prosthetists. Our partnering prosthetists are encouraged to treat in our Beyond Limits Clinic. This approach allows the team to evaluate and coordinate goals and to deliver advanced prosthetic services in order to provide the highest opportunity for success and help expedite a more complete return to your previous lifestyle.

Your prosthetist will be with you throughout the entire process to help answer all your questions and coordinate your healthcare team from the hospital (pre-amputation) to intermediate care (possible rehab facility/nursing home) and back home again. Your prosthetist will be your direct point of contact to help you navigate these unfamiliar environments and help significantly decrease the number of trips needed to follow up with your healthcare providers.

Once surgery is complete, amputees are typically fit for a prosthesis 6-8 weeks later and then referred for outpatient physical therapy. Our Beyond Limits therapist, Dr. Logan Sillies, will be there to provide treatment that includes education on movement with a prosthesis, care of the residual limb, and overall wellness. Training will also be provided, showing you how to take your new prosthesis on and off as well as ensuring a good fit. Dr. Sillies will also help you practice and perfect transferring from different surfaces with different devices in order to ensure you can get where you need to go as efficiently as possible. Dr. Sillies will work with you to develop an individualized exercise program tailored to your specific needs and goals for life as an amputee. The primary focus will be to optimize your flexibility, range of motion, strength, balance, control, stability, and coordination. Once you are ready, Dr. Sillies will work with you to restore your ability to WALK if a lower limb loss or perhaps return to your golf game (even with an upper limb loss). This includes education about the prosthesis’ itself, optimization of body mechanics, training of various systems throughout the body, and utilization of proper assistive devices. It is our goal as therapists to ensure that you return to the highest level of function possible and resume your previous lifestyle.

To ensure you regain your independence using your prosthesis, Beyond Limits occupational therapy will be an essential part of the rehabilitation process. Our occupational therapist (OT), Sara Strain, will work with you to facilitate optimum performance during activities of daily living to improve your quality of life. Your OT treatment can consist of learning to don a prosthetic limb, transferring on and off chairs/toilet/shower/car, education and recommendations for assistive devices and durable medical equipment, as well as maximizing independence in your own environment – home, school, work place, and community. Sara will also help you determine which factors (e.g. speed, strength, dexterity or appearance) will most significantly impact your return to work or leisure activities. All of these factors will be important to consider when choosing which prosthesis is best for you and how modifications can be made to enhance your health and happiness.

Beyond Limits Prosthetics: A partnership between the prosthetist, therapists, and the patient.

Aaron Moles, L/CP, discusses the importance of collaborating with therapists to ensure the successful selection and use of a prosthetic device, guiding the patient from surgery to return to work and recreational activities.

How Beyond Limits Prosthetics Can Help:

Single Point of Contact
Expediting Prosthetic Fitting/Selection
Less Reliance on Pain Medication
Limb Volume Management
Less Anxiety
Dietary Management of Diabetes
Coordinated Program with Therapist and Prosthetist
Wound Care Education
Phantom Limb Pain/Sensation Management

Beyond Limits Prosthetics Treatments:

Skin Care

Our PT/OT staff will help you ensure that the skin of both your residual and intact limb is healthy and free from further injury. Our therapists are trained to evaluate and treat skin and scar tissue disorders that can develop from diabetes, ill-fitting prosthetics, and footwear. We work with you to educate on proper prosthetic fit, proper footwear, and on proper transfer techniques to avoid skin tissue breakdown.

Donning/Doffing Prosthesis

There are various mechanisms that are used in the prosthetic world to take your prosthesis on and off. We work with you to educate you on the function of your specific prosthesis and practice the most efficient and safe ways to don “put on” and doff “take off” your prosthesis.

Sock Ply Management

Following your amputation your limb will vary in size and shape based on the amount of swelling and fluid in your residual limb. It is important to work with your prosthetist and therapist to manage the layers of socks that you wear with your prosthesis. This management of sock ply is critical when shaping your limb to a correct healthy size that will work with your new prosthetic.

Education on Prosthetic Componentry

Trying to understand the mechanics of the various high tech componentry that is incorporated in your prosthesis can be overwhelming. Your physical therapist will help ease this burden by educating and explaining to you the function and mechanisms of your prosthesis. This information will lead you to moving both easier and more efficiently as you master the mechanics of your new prosthesis.

Therapeutic Activity

Whether it be getting into a car, getting up a flight of stairs, or getting you into bed our therapists will work with you to optimize your transfers and mobility to safely get you where you need to go. We develop tailored treatment plans with a customized approach to rehab based on your needs and abilities.

Gait Analysis

No one person walks the same and our therapists know this. We will thoroughly evaluate your gait mechanics with the most up to date technology and equipment. We take this information and complement it with the appropriate prosthetic componentry that will allow you to meet all your goals. We will work with you to become accustomed to your new normal and ensure that you are confident, safe, and efficient with your prosthesis.