Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Practice Analysis Task Force
- Introduction
- Task Force Selection
- Survey Return Rate
- Results Related to Professional Background, Work Setting and Demographic Information
- Results Related to Domains, Tasks and Knowledge and Skill Statements
- Domain Ratings
- Task Ratings
- Knowledge and Skills Statements
- Results Related to Practice Areas and Devices
- Highlights
©2024 by the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics & Pedorthics, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this document may be produced in any form without written permission of the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics & Pedorthics, Inc.
Practice Analysis of Certified Pedorthists
January 2017
Results Related to Practice Areas and Devices
All survey respondents were asked to characterize the nature of their work in regard to an extensive list of pedorthic devices. The results of these rating activities should be reviewed very carefully, as they provide guidance with regard to the development and/or refinement of ABC’s certification examinations. The results also provide guidance to the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education (NCOPE) in the development of pedorthic education standards.
Respondents indicated whether they provided clinical patient care and/or performed pedorthic fabrication activities. As shown in Table 19, more than 80% do perform such activities.
Table 19
| Yes | 81% |
| No | 19% |
| Total | 100% |
Respondents who indicated they did provide clinical patient care and/or fabrication-related activities responded to the practice area and devices section of the survey. As shown in Figure 1, the greatest percentage of these respondents pedorthic time was spent, on average, in the orthoses practice area (41%), followed by footwear (34%), shoe modifications (14%) and retail (10%). Less than 1% of time was spent in some other pedorthic practice area.
Figure 1 - Percentage of Time in Pedorthic Practice Areas
Detailed allocations of percentages of time within pedorthic practice areas are found in Table 20.
Table 20
| Footwear | 34.3% |
|---|---|
| Therapeutic/Diabetic Shoes | 16.0% |
| Extra-depth Shoes | 7.9% |
| Custom Shoes | 2.5% |
| Pediatric Corrective Footwear | 1.4% |
| Athletic Shoes | 5.9% |
| Other | 0.6% |
| Orthoses | 41.0% |
| Pre-fabricated Therapeutic/Diabetic Inserts | 5.6% |
| Custom Therapeutic/Diabetic Inserts | 8.7% |
| Pre-fabricated Accommodative Foot Orthoses | 2.6% |
| Pre-fabricated Rigid Foot Orthoses | 1.4% |
| Custom Accommodative Foot Orthoses | 6.7% |
| Custom Functional/Rigid Foot Orthoses | 7.1% |
| UCBL Orthoses | 1.4% |
| Gait Plates | 0.5% |
| Toe Filler Foot Orthoses/Partial Foot Prostheses | 2.0% |
| Custom Fabricated SCFO (leather ankle gauntlet) | 1.1% |
| Dorsi-assist Orthoses (pre-fabricated nighttime) | 0.7% |
| Pre-fabricated Walking Boot/Shoe (wound off-loading) | 1.1% |
| Custom Fabricated Articulated AFO (for example, free motion low profile orthosis) | 1.8% |
| Other | 0.2% |
| Shoe Modifications | 14.2% |
| Shoe Modifications (sole) | 9.0% |
| Shoe Modifications (upper) | 3.8% |
| Other | 1.3% |
| Retail (no prescription, no medical condition) | 9.5% |
| Extra-depth Shoes | 2.5% |
| Athletic Shoes | 2.2% |
| Pre-fabricated Accommodative Foot Orthoses | 1.0% |
| Pre-fabricated Rigid Foot Orthoses | 0.6% |
| Compression Garments | 0.7% |
| Accommodative Foot Orthoses * | 1.1% |
| Custom Rigid Foot Orthoses * | 0.9% |
| Other | 0.5% |
Respondents indicated if they performed a number of activities with respect to specific pedorthic devices at any time during the past year; results are shown in Table 21.
Table 21
| Perform Initial Assessment | Measure/ mold/ digitize/ scan | Modify | Fabricate | Fit | Perform Follow-Up/ evaluation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Footwear | ||||||
| Therapeutic/Diabetic Shoes | 84% | 76% | 63% | 22% | 86% | 81% |
| Extra-depth Shoes | 81% | 73% | 58% | 17% | 81% | 76% |
| Custom Shoes | 58% | 54% | 38% | 13% | 57% | 56% |
| Pediatric Corrective Footwear | 38% | 33% | 26% | 10% | 39% | 36% |
| Athletic Shoes | 65% | 55% | 42% | 12% | 64% | 57% |
| Orthoses | ||||||
| Pre-fabricated Therapeutic/ Diabetic Inserts | 72% | 62% | 57% | 18% | 73% | 67% |
| Custom Therapeutic/ Diabetic Inserts | 77% | 76% | 69% | 42% | 80% | 76% |
| Pre-fabricated Accommodative Foot Orthoses | 65% | 54% | 50% | 15% | 64% | 56% |
| Pre-fabricated Rigid Foot Orthoses | 51% | 45% | 37% | 13% | 52% | 46% |
| Custom Accommodative Foot Orthoses | 76% | 74% | 69% | 45% | 78% | 75% |
| Custom Functional/Rigid Foot Orthoses | 68% | 67% | 60% | 37% | 69% | 67% |
| UCBL Orthoses | 52% | 48% | 44% | 27% | 51% | 49% |
| Gait Plates | 34% | 30% | 24% | 13% | 32% | 31% |
| Toe Filler Foot Orthoses/ Partial Foot Prostheses | 67% | 64% | 55% | 36% | 67% | 64% |
| Custom Fabricated SCFO (leather ankle gauntlet) | 35% | 32% | 25% | 9% | 34% | 33% |
| Dorsi-assist Orthoses (prefabricated nighttime) | 35% | 29% | 20% | 6% | 35% | 31% |
| Pre-fabricated Walking Boot/Shoe (wound offloading) | 41% | 34% | 28% | 9% | 41% | 38% |
| Custom Fabricated Articulated AFO (for example, free motion low profile orthosis) | 39% | 35% | 29% | 11% | 38% | 36% |
| Shoe Modifications | ||||||
| Shoe Modifications (sole) | 72% | 58% | 55% | 39% | 67% | 68% |
| Shoe Modifications (upper) | 64% | 51% | 52% | 33% | 61% | 61% |
| Retail (no prescription, no medical condition) | ||||||
| Extra-depth Shoes | 66% | 56% | 39% | 10% | 65% | 54% |
| Athletic Shoes | 59% | 50% | 35% | 9% | 59% | 49% |
| Pre-fabricated Accommodative Foot Orthoses | 57% | 47% | 36% | 9% | 56% | 47% |
| Pre-fabricated Rigid Foot Orthoses | 46% | 38% | 31% | 8% | 44% | 39% |
| Compression garments | 42% | 35% | 13% | 5% | 40% | 34% |
| Custom Accommodative Foot Orthoses | 53% | 49% | 43% | 27% | 52% | 48% |
| Custom Rigid Foot Orthoses | 45% | 42% | 36% | 23% | 45% | 41% |
