The O&P field's main academic journal added a pedorthist to its editorial board. The reason was rising research volume.

The Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics appointed Séamus Kennedy, BEng (Mech), CPed, FAAOP(A), to its editorial board this month. Kennedy is a certified pedorthist, co-owner of Hersco Ortho Labs, and a mechanical engineer by training.

JPO is the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists. It is where much of the clinical research base for O&P practice gets published and cited. Who sits on its editorial board affects what research gets rigorous peer review, which shapes what eventually informs practice guidelines and continuing professional development.

JPO editor in chief Steven Gard, PhD, was specific about the reason for the appointment: “JPO has experienced significant growth in manuscript submissions addressing pedorthics and foot and ankle biomechanics, highlighting the importance of having recognized experts on our editorial board who can provide leadership and scholarly oversight in these areas.”

That says the journal was receiving more research in this area than its existing review capacity was built for. Kennedy fills that gap.

Pedorthics and prosthetic care overlap more than their separate credentialing tracks suggest. A pedorthist’s scope covers foot orthoses, footwear, and shoe modifications. For people using transtibial prostheses, sound-limb foot health is not peripheral to their prosthetic care: it affects gait, and gait affects socket fit assessment, energy expenditure, and long-term joint loading. Research in foot and ankle biomechanics feeds directly into how practitioners think about walking patterns and device prescription for lower-limb amputees.

Kennedy also brings digital manufacturing expertise to a field increasingly using CAD and scanning tools. He moderates the Foot and Ankle Biomechanics and Pedorthics Program at the Academy Annual Meeting and cochairs the Pedorthic Education Committee at the Pedorthic Footcare Association.

For patients, nothing changes immediately. The research accumulating in this area will take years to work through citations and into clinical guidelines. The appointment is a structural fact: the evidence base in foot and ankle biomechanics is growing fast enough that the journal needed someone who could evaluate it. That is how the research pipeline works before any of it reaches a clinical encounter.