Harmony Course Ottobock Academy Australia

Four Prosthetist’s from across NSW were certified in fitting the Ottobock Harmony system

An excitable buzz was heard spilling from the doors of the Ottobock Academy last week, as 4 Prosthetist’s from across NSW were certified in fitting the Ottobock Harmony system. With the help of two courageous below knee amputees, the group took on the challenge of fitting elevated vacuum sockets with great success. The course spanned across the whole treatment process from cast, to alignment to the final socket lamination.

One of the intricacies of this system is that the socket shape is very different to traditional styles, and requires a specific casting technique taken under vacuum. Once the test socket was made the participants followed the Ottobock alignment principles of optimising the prosthesis to physiologically load the knee, to reduces forces, and fine tune the dynamics of the foot.

The Harmony system is evolutionary to socket comfort due to its reduction in movement of the stump inside the socket. Because of the vacuum effect of the Harmony pump, the patients describe that the foot feels like a part of their leg, so they can really feel the ground underneath them. The enthusiasm from the demo patients was really felt when they got to wear some of our modern Harmony pumps like the E2 which is resistant to dust and sweat and submergible in water, and the Triton Harmony which is a high performing carbon foot with an integrated pump. This particular foot is excellent for high activity users, and both the Harmony system and Triton foot can be trialled free of charge from Ottobock. Just ask your prosthetist!