Orthotists and Prosthetists
Design, measure, fit, and adapt orthopedic braces, appliances or prostheses, such as limbs or facial parts for patients with disabling conditions.
- Median pay
- $81,110
- Doing it now
- 9,500
- By 2035
- Up 12.9%
- Usually needs
- Master's degree
a year
across the country
700 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Examine, interview, and measure patients to determine their appliance needs and to identify factors that could affect appliance fit.
- Fit, test, and evaluate devices on patients, and make adjustments for proper fit, function, and comfort.
- Instruct patients in the use and care of orthoses and prostheses.
- Design orthopedic and prosthetic devices, based on physicians' prescriptions and examination and measurement of patients.
- Maintain patients' records.
- Make and modify plaster casts of areas to be fitted with prostheses or orthoses to guide the device construction process.
- Select materials and components to be used, based on device design.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Rehabilitation and Therapeutic ProfessionsSee 281 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Hands-on and practical
Analytical and curious
Helping and teaching
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $81,110 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.