Held every two years, the ISPO World Congress integrates an interdisciplinary approach and high scientific standards to offer physicians, therapists, technicians and engineers an outstanding platform for gaining information, expanding their knowledge and exchanging expertise at an international level. The congress will be held this year from 8 to 11 May in Cape Town, South Africa.

Ottobock will be hosting its own booth at the accompanying industry exhibition to present its latest product innovations there. Based in Duderstadt, Germany, the medical technology company will also be promoting the transfer of scientific expertise with numerous presentations during congress symposia and practical workshops.

Ottobock has been represented in South Africa with its own foreign subsidiary in Midrand since 2011. Ottobock products are marketed from this location between the economic centre of Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria. A specially constructed competence centre focuses on providing training and further education to technicians and fittings for patients in particular. “With South Africa, the ISPO World Congress has selected a host country this year which represents a region with great potential,” said Ralf Stuch, Executive Vice President, Global Sales at Ottobock. “We want to support this region in the best possible manner and are therefore delighted to assist and promote an international exchange – both on a scientific level and through in-person discussions on-site – through our participation in the ISPO World Congress.”

With the purchase of the bebionic multi-articulated hand prosthesis and the emPOWER active prosthetic foot, Ottobock is continuing to build on its position as world market leader in the field of prosthetics. Both products will be presented at the accompanying industry exhibition of the ISPO World Congress.

With five movable fingers, the bebionic offers the technical preconditions for 14 gripping patterns. Isolating the index finger makes it possible to operate keyboards, for example. Prostheses like the bebionic will soon achieve their full capabilities with the principle of pattern recognition. The goal is to develop a system that is able to reproduce the user’s movement patterns. An electrode ring wrapped around the residual limb holds additional electrodes, so it will be possible to record many more muscle patterns in future than before. Ottobock’s research location in Vienna is already leading this field.

The Empower is the world’s only active prosthetic foot which is commercially available on the market. A further development of the well-known BiOM, the Empower imitates the functions of the lost muscles and tendons via an actively driven ankle joint and ensures that the user is supported by additional energy when walking.

The product innovations Ottobock will be presenting at the ISPO World Congress include the Agilium Freestep ankle-foot orthosis, which is used for osteoarthritis of the knee. Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disorder in the world with around 60% of all patients being affected by osteoarthritis of the knee. Thanks to its intelligent design, the Agilium Freestep is applied to the foot rather than the knee. It does not restrict the knee, which results in greater acceptance amongst patients. Ottobock will be presenting further innovations in the fields of upper and lower limb prosthetics as well as orthotics in hall 1, booth A10.

Ottobock South Africa

bebionic and Empower at the ISPO World Congress