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Benkelman company gearing up to make animal orthotics
BENKELMAN, Nebraska -- Every year, 200,000 dogs in the United States blow out their ACL's.
Before or after, or instead of surgery, a brace will help alleviate pain and stabilize the knee as the dog's anterior cruciate ligament injury heals.
To address the need for custom-fit orthotics for injured dogs, a Benkelman, Nebraska, business owner and prosthetist has expanded the company that he developed to fit and fabricate custom prostheses and orthotics for humans to now offer braces for dogs.
And, with the professional and financial assistance of McCook, Nebraska, veterinarian Dr. Wayne Watkins, Ben Blecha of Benkelman sees "Ace Ortho Solutions" -- the "sister company of his "Sky Prosthetics Inc." -- going as far and wide as the need to help injured dogs.
Blecha traces the roots of Ace Ortho Solutions to his work with Dr. Robert Taylor DVM/MS at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver in 2005. "Emergency Vets (an "Animal Planet" No. 1 reality television series) shot there," Ben said, and added with a chuckle. "I'm in one episode -- I'm wearing a mask in the surgery suite. People who know me know which one I am."
In August 2008, Ben spoke at the fifth "International Symposium on Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy in Veterinary Medicine" in Minneapolis, Minnesota, about small animal prosthetics and orthotics. Following that conference, Ben started working with leading animal rehab professionals around the world to advance the animal rehabilitation orthotic/prosthetic field.
Since his work with Dr. Taylor (now retired) at Alameda East and with experience gained after the Minneapolis conference, Blecha has redesigned and advanced many bracing techniques used on animal injuries. "We're ready now to get these braces to market," Blecha said. "We know they work. We feel confident, with Dr. Watkins' involvement, that we can scale-up our operation and production."
Ace Ortho Solutions works with veterinarians and physical therapists who will make a cast of the dog's injured knee (stifle) for the brace, a "prescribed medical device." In Ben's lab in Benkelman, he and lab technician Trina Stute fashion bio-mechanically correct braces using waterproof neoprene (for the undersleeve), plastic (for the main brace), metal rivets and VelcroŽ straps.
Ace Ortho Solutions' website -- aceorthosolutions.com -- indicates that the braces are custom molded and the undersleeve mechanisms are "customizable, simple and replaceable." They are not "one size fits all."
"We've fit everything from a Chihuahua to a Great Dane," Ben said. Many are Labrador retrievers because, Ben says with a boyish grin, "they're very active, joyful dogs."
Ben was one of eight panelists -- "pioneers of veterinary orthotics and prosthetics" -- who spoke at a conference of the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association in September 2011 in Las Vegas. He said the "glamorous one" on the panel was the prosthetist who developed the prosthetic tale for the dolphin named "Winter" in the true-to-life movie "A Dolphin's Tale."
Ben said his topic on the panel was "outsourcing": Veterinarians making the casts and sending them for the fabrication of braces to Ben's lab. "Our company is helping others develop an aspect of their practices as well," Ben said.
Ben said he's fabricated braces for dogs throughout the United States, and in the United Kingdom, Canada, Romania, South Africa, Brazil and Australia.
He said, "Our innovative dog braces are a result of many hours of research." Ace Ortho Solutions continually researches and monitors advancements and changes in the field of braces for dogs, and incorporates training for its employees.
"We have a system now, and with Dr. Watkins' involvement, we can scale up our production," Ben said.
Ben encourages pet owners to ask questions, of their veterinarians and of Ace Ortho Solutions. He says, "Your questions are valid. Please ask! We don't shy away from helping you make an informed decision...because your dog deserves the best."
Check out the Ace Ortho Solution website for more information about braces -- stifle, hock or carpal -- for dogs: www.aceorthosolutions.com
For more information, contact the Benkelman lab at (308) 423-2612; P.O. Box 471 Benkelman, NE 69021. With authorization from his/her veterinarian, a pet owner can request that a casting kit be shipped to the vet.
Check out Ace Ortho on Facebook: www.facebook. com/AceOrtho