People open a web site for a host of reasons, but we want to address this site to the people we most want to reach: you moms and dads with an infant or child who needs prosthetic care for an upper or lower extremity. Each of you has a million questions and concerns, and we certainly cannot hope to address every one of them here. We can, however, make a beginning with the links below. We'll answer your first question right here. YES! Our services are available to your family, wherever you live!! We have clinics coast to coast, and, "We also Make House Calls!"

K'lynn Sliva at age 3

We have worked very diligently to prepare a web site covering, in depth, a wide array of questions you may have regarding children and prosthetics. A serious effort has been made to address the many causes of infant and pediatric amputation, or perhaps better termed, limb loss, for a baby or child. We will speak a lot to amniotic band, or about amniotic banding, and we will get into some depth about the other causes of congenital limb deficiency among infants and children. Most of all we will discover together that among all the many causes of limb difference among these little ones, the overwhelming majority of them can be wrapped up in the term congenital accident, commonly misunderstood to be a birth defect, over which you had no control. We will discuss Aplasia, Focomelia, genetic accidents, pre-natal amputation, traumatic amputation, and the prosthetic options available to you parents of the pediatric amputee.

We would also suggest that if you have a small child or small children, then most likely you have found a good pediatrician, rather than a doctor whose practice is primarily geared to geriatric patients. For your consideration then, please keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of prosthetist practitioners are 99% involved with adult and geriatric patients in need of a prosthetic option. Perhaps the first decision you might want to consider is whether or not you want to fit your child with an artificial limb, either an artificial leg, or an artificial arm or artificial hand.

A pre-natal amputee whether he or she is a leg amputee or an arm amputee is often placed in a separate category from amputation victims at some later date. We do not understand this double-think. Both children have suffered a limb loss and we can help each of them lead a fuller life with leg prosthesis, arm prosthesis, or a hand prosthesis. We hope you will ask yourself one simple question. If your pediatrician told you that without surgery, your six-year-old child was going to live the rest of his or her life as an arm amputee or leg amputee, with no arm or leg prosthesis, would you consider requesting the surgery? A silly question isn’t it? But moms and dads, that is precisely what some honestly ignorant people in effect recommend for a pediatric amputee whose accident or limb loss took place before birth.

K'lynn Sliva as a teen

Their rationale goes something like this: “If he, (or she), never had it..... then he, (or she), won’t miss it.” Sadly, many limb deficient children are treated and thought of in exactly that way.

We at pediatric prosthetics earn our living giving the children the best human hands can do, whether it is a leg, arm, foot, hand or finger prosthetic.

Arm prosthetics have undergone an amazing evolution over the last eighteen years. The Myoelectric arms, and Myoelectric hands especially designed for infants and children give them a wonderful degree of functionality, combined with a remarkably life-like appearance that is non-threatening to their peers. With leg prosthetics, only recently has there been an attempt to equal the advances made with arms. Nevertheless, with the advent of the complete pediatric leg prosthesis line manufactured by Ohio Willow Wood Corporation, children amputees are given the ability to run and play with their friends.

Finally, children, born with a limb difference develop strength of perseverance that allows them to compete equally for the blue ribbons of life. We at Pediatric Prosthetics Incorporated are committed to fitting these children with state of the art tools to help them......wherever you live, coast to coast.

Wishing you well,

Ken & Linda Bean, and Dan Morgan

Pediatric Prosthetics, Incorporated