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A new FAQ from AOPA breaks down the VA's June 2026 payment overhaul for community-based prosthetic and orthotic care, including what it means for veterans who use non-VA providers.
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Fresh reporting
The Japan-funded UNIDO prosthetics project held its first technology showcase in Abuja this week. The numbers are more specific than the launch announcement was, and so are the unanswered questions.
The VA published new payment rules for community-based prosthetic and orthotic care in June. AOPA just released the answers to the questions providers and veterans have been sitting with since.
The story of 68-year-old Cynthia Cheak, who lost her left leg and became a fixture in the Golden State Valkyries' Ballhalla crowd, is being told as a sports feel-good. But the part worth sitting with is the line she said first: not one counselor came to talk to her during 72 days in the hospital.
Sarah Wall, a bilateral amputee, called ahead to confirm a resort's pool lift was functional. It wasn't. Her ADA complaint went unanswered. The escalation path that eventually got a new lift installed runs through state agencies, city coordinators, and corporate offices, not the federal process most people know about.
Children with limb loss can outgrow a prosthetic socket every few months. A University of Pennsylvania study found that an adjustable, immediate-fit design was feasible, well-accepted, and matched conventional sockets on walking speed, with better marks on ease of adjustment and temperature control.
A Nebraska-based O&P company received a $306,864 NIH grant to develop a prosthetic liner using chitosan nanofibers to fight residual limb infection without antibiotics. The project is in Phase I, with clinical trials the goal if the proof-of-concept succeeds.
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Getting started · 8 min readWhat has to happen before your first prosthetic fitting↗
Getting started · 12 min readUpper limb prosthetic control systems: what your options are and what to ask before choosing↗
Daily life · 10 min readAfter a vascular amputation: taking care of the leg you still have↗
Daily life · 10 min readGetting mental health care after limb loss: how to recognize when you need it and how to find it↗
Gear & care · 11 min readSocket skin breakdown: how to read what you're looking at and what to do next↗Have a lead or a correction?
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