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Systems & accessSeptember 11, 2026

Hanger is acquiring Numotion. The combined company will touch 1.5 million patients annually across O&P and complex rehab.

Hanger Clinic, the country's largest O&P provider, is acquiring Numotion, the country's largest CRT and power mobility company. Both brands stay, both sets of patients stay, and Patient Square Capital controls the combined entity. Here's what the deal actually means for the people in the waiting rooms.

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01Life & mobilityBodies, care, and everyday life 02Systems & accessPolicy, coverage, and the fine print 03CommunityPeople, work, and shared experience 04Sport & cultureCompetition, creativity, and visibility

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Life & mobility

University of Tennessee researchers received $809,000 to build an implantable prosthetic hand controller that reads mechanical muscle signals. Grip force feedback is also part of the design.

A UT Knoxville engineering team is developing the Myo-Bridge, an implant that senses the physical motion of residual muscles rather than their electrical signals, then relays that information wirelessly to an external prosthetic hand. The device also aims to send grip force data back to the residual limb so users can feel what the hand is holding. Up to 45 percent of powered prosthetic hand users eventually stop using the device.

Systems & access

Moldova and UNDP are buying prosthetics directly for citizens who cannot access them. The funding comes from China.

A Chinese-government-funded partnership with UNDP and Moldova's Ministry of Labour and Social Protection will purchase prosthetics and mobility aids for the country's most vulnerable people and upgrade the national prosthetics center.

Community

PROTEOR released an anthology of community stories at AOPA 2026. The book is also part of a 2027 strategy review.

At the 2026 AOPA National Assembly in Las Vegas, the global prosthetics manufacturer launched Unleashed, a 20-story collection from people with limb loss and limb difference. The company says what it hears will shape its plans for next year.

Life & mobility

A clinical trial compared two quasi-passive prosthetic ankles against standard ESR devices. The results were not evenly distributed.

A randomized crossover trial including Hugh Herr compared variable-stiffness and variable-damping quasi-passive ankles against two ESR ankles across eight walking tasks. What the study found, what it didn't, and what quasi-passive actually means for transtibial amputees.

Systems & access

Northwestern's first research-track MPO class graduated in September. It's the only program of its kind in the country.

Six students completed NUPOC's MPO Research program, the only degree in the US that combines full clinical O&P training with original thesis research. What the credential is actually trying to fix.

Systems & access

RIT researchers combined bioprinting and embedded sensors in a prosthetic prototype. Here is what they built and what is still unresolved.

A Rochester Institute of Technology team published a proof-of-concept prosthetic integrating hybrid materials, extrusion-based bioprinting, and piezoelectric tactile sensors. The device is a research prototype, not a clinical product.

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