# Adopting digital technologies and 3D printing in prosthetics and orthotics: Lessons from a decade of clinical practice

## TL;DR

This paper discusses the impact of digital technologies and 3D printing on prosthetics and orthotics over the past decade, highlighting both benefits and challenges in clinical practice.

## Contribution

The paper provides a professional opinion on the long-term clinical adoption of digital workflows and 3D printing in prosthetics and orthotics.

## Key findings

- Digital tools improve design consistency and digital traceability in prosthetics and orthotics.
- Challenges include high total cost of ownership and workflow fragility.
- Digital transformation reshapes clinical craftsmanship rather than eliminating it.

## Abstract

Over the past decade, digital workflows and 3D printing have shifted from emerging innovations to mainstream considerations within prosthetics and orthotics (P&O). While these technologies promise improved reproducibility, enhanced documentation, and new design possibilities, their sustained integration into clinical practice has revealed both meaningful benefits and significant challenges. Drawing on nearly ten years of clinical adoption within a busy orthotic practice, this professional opinion article reflects on the lived realities of incorporating digital pathways and additive manufacturing into patient care. Areas of durable benefit include improved design consistency, digital traceability, and educational value. However, total cost of ownership, workflow fragility, material limitations at fitting, and evolving workforce expectations present ongoing considerations. Importantly, digital tools have not eliminated clinical craftsmanship but have reshaped where and how it occurs. As artificial intelligence and data-driven systems emerge, the profession faces renewed responsibility to ensure that digital transformation strengthens, rather than dilutes, clinical reasoning and professional identity. Thoughtful, clinician-led adoption remains essential to sustaining patient-centred care in an increasingly digital environment.