Healthcare Practitioners
Orthotists and Prosthetists
Also called: Certified Orthotist (CO), Certified Pedorthist, Certified Prosthetist (CP), Certified Prosthetist Orthotist (CPO)
US median pay
$81,110
per year, 2025
Job growth 2025–35
+12.9%
faster than average
Openings a year (US)
700
9,500 employed
Typical entry education
Master's degree
Preparation 5/5 · Extensive preparation
What this job is
Design, measure, fit, and adapt orthopedic braces, appliances or prostheses, such as limbs or facial parts for patients with disabling conditions.
What they do day to day
- 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.
- Maintain patients' records.
- Examine, interview, and measure patients to determine their appliance needs and to identify factors that could affect appliance fit.
- Select materials and components to be used, based on device design.
- Design orthopedic and prosthetic devices, based on physicians' prescriptions and examination and measurement of patients.
- Repair, rebuild, and modify prosthetic and orthopedic appliances.
- Construct and fabricate appliances, or supervise others constructing the appliances.
- Make and modify plaster casts of areas to be fitted with prostheses or orthoses to guide the device construction process.
- Confer with physicians to formulate specifications and prescriptions for orthopedic or prosthetic devices.
Skills and knowledge that matter most
Skills
- Social Perceptiveness3.8/5
- Service Orientation3.8/5
- Complex Problem Solving3.8/5
- Judgment and Decision Making3.2/5
- Coordination3.2/5
- Time Management3.1/5
- Operations Analysis3.1/5
- Instructing3.1/5
Knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service4.6/5
- Medicine and Dentistry4.3/5
- Therapy and Counseling4.0/5
- Design4.0/5
- English Language3.9/5
- Psychology3.9/5
Importance rated by people working in the job (1 = not important, 5 = extremely important).
Education and preparation
Preparation level 5 of 5 — Extensive preparation. Usually a graduate degree (master's, PhD, MD, JD) and extensive experience.
Typical entry education (BLS): Master's degree.
Highest education of people in this job:
- Master's degree90%
Who this job suits
Mostly Realistic
Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
Investigative
Ideas, research and solving problems
Social
Helping, teaching and caring for people
Based on the Holland (RIASEC) interest profile for this occupation.