Poultry in Motion

A: Well in this case he was searching for the newest AMPUTEE PROSTHETIC CLINIC in South Georgia.

A few weeks ago Jim Young, CP, FAAOP was attacking a small stack of administrative paperwork at his new prosthetic care facility in Tifton, GA. When the phone rang Jim answered with his usual greeting ” Amputee Prosthetic Clinic, Jim speaking, may I Help You?“ The caller said, ”hey I’ve been driving past your facility and could not help but notice your sign with the colorful pirate for the last month, and have meant to call you.“

The caller explained that he was a physician whose office was around the corner and that what he was about to ask was no joke. Alrighty then, Jim thought, ”lets have it.“

The caller (we’ll call Dr. Farmer) explained that he raises fancy chickens as a hobby, and that about a year ago his rooster got his leg caught up in some bailing twine. Before Dr. Farmer discovered the entangled rooster, circulation had been disrupted to the point that gangrene had set in, and the result was a spontaneous amputation. Next Dr. Farmer asked Jim if he had ever made a prosthetic device for an animal, and ”do you think you could make a prostheses for a chicken?“

Jim proceeded to tell Dr. Farmer that in fact he had once made a prostheses for a Dog, but that after gimping around as a tripod for a year the prosthesis was more a chew toy that anything else. However, a chicken being bipedal my increase the chances for success, if we can find a way to gain purchase and suspend the prosthesis. In other words Jim’s answer to whether or not he could make a prosthetic limb for a chicken was an emphatic, maybe?

Schedules were coordinated and confirmed, re-coordinated and reconfirmed until finally the chicken was brought in for an evaluation and consult. The night before the chicken was to be seen Jim scoured the internet researching chicken anatomy. Dr. Farmer described what he thought was a below–the-knee type amputation during the initial conversation. However, after a little research Jim believed the amputation was more likely a partial foot amputation. Jim like a lot of folks believed that a chickens knee bends the opposite direction of a human knee, but that is not true. What most people think of as a chicken’s knee is actually the ankle. Chicken and humans have a femur, but where humans have a tibia and fibula chickens have a tibiotarsus, and where humans have tarsal bones for a multiaxial ankle, chickens have a tarsusmetatarsus for a single axis ankle.

During the evaluation Jim’s suspicion of a partial foot amputation was confirmed, and as luck would have it the chicken’s residual limb was about 2 inches from the proximal joint and bulbus. This bulbus distal end was ideal for a supracondular type suspension. A two stage casting technique was used to capture the shape and size of the residual limb, and a supracondular style socket with anterior opening was laminated.

The socket now complete, Jim’s only real concern was ”where can I buy a prosthetic chicken foot?“ At once a vision came to Jim of his mentor, Rodger Wier, CP, VAMC Prosthetic Chief (ret.) from Huntington, WV. Rodger always told him to look to the toy industry for innovative- outside the box – cutting edge genius. Clinging to that thought Jim found himself wondering the isles of ”Wally World.“

In the Halloween isle he found it. The suitable replacement. The economy pumpkin carving set.

The pumpkin saw was used like a pipe, and the orange handle fit perfectly into the inside of the standard galv. pipe used in the industry. The scooper even though it looks more like a ducks foot worked well for a chicken foot. The area where the scoop and handle merge was heated with a propane torch so that the angle of the dangle mimicked that of the chicken.

Silipos gel liners the small ones used for fingers and toes was placed on the chickens residual limb as an interface.

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