2010 hold lots of promise in elevated vacuum prosthetics. But let's see... where does elevated vacuum need to go?

We lack the three C's.  We lack consensus, we lack consistency, we lack communication. 

For elevated vacuum to become an accepted technique by the schools, by ABC, and by payors, it needs all of these things. Many people are applying the term, "elevated vacuum" to a variety of different techniques and by the same token many people are applying different terminology to the same technique (elevated vacuum, sub-atmospheric suspension, sub-ischial design, negative pressure, etc) .  It reminds me of the confusion between CATCAM, ischial containment, Long's Line, and narrow ML socket design. (I defy anyone to collect 100 random non-quadrilateral transfemoral sockets from the around the US and match the socket design to the name consistantly)

But the good news is that we have the three I's. Innovation, independence, and imagination.  The seemingly fragmented and independent development is the very thing that resulted in much more innovation and novelty in the evolution of these systems. Rushing toward a single solution would have resulted in a much less interesting beast in both the CATCAM and the Elevated Vacuum examples.

With a new year at hand, we continue the hard work of establishing elevating vacuum into a mature and accepted prosthetic approach, while enjoying the fun of coming up with new ideas at every turn. 

Yet another moving target!  HAPPY NEW YEAR,