Technology – between vision and implementation

Real or printed? It is hardly recognizable which of the two shoes is from the 3D-printer. At Delcam's Orthotic Technology Forum in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, it was discussed which role this technology can play within orthopedic shoe technology.

Delcam has regularly organized an English forum dealing with new technologies within orthopedic treatment and care in different places around the world as of 2011. At this year's European event in Eindhoven, more than 100 delegates were informed about topics such as 3D-printers and additive manufacturing. The event was supposed to focus on technology, explained Chris Lawrie from Delcam, who presented the event, at the beginning. And that's what happened. Starting with the first lecture until the joint dinner at the Philips-museum, it was all about different technologies and their use for the treatment with aids and appliances.

The first key aspect of the event was the treatment and care in sports. In his keynote "quantifying musculoskeletal dysfunction using technology", Clifton Bradeley, owner of the British enterprise SUB4, explained how he analyzes athletes and what insight he gains with his technique. He advocated to qualify the dysfunction with measurements – and thus to be able to assess the improvement caused by the treatment. He thinks that locomotion patterns are not enough taken into consideration. Still all collected data had to be evaluated in order to be useful. In his evidence-based practice approach it is not research that is important: "Data do not have to appear in research in order to be useful," Bradeley is convinced. "What you measure does not have to be scientifically based before you intervene." In his own company he applies a systematic approach within the assessment of patients, comparing figures before and after the treatment. In order to implement this approach, he opts for the treatment on the same day. This fast intervention enables the evaluation of early stages of the correction, according to Bradeley.