Caleb Krodel - Student Blog 2/6/26

Ahoy,

Our cohort has had an eventful month since returning from break! We started with upper extremity orthotics, moved on to lower extremity orthotics, and had some pirate themed fun in the meantime!

During upper extremity orthotics, we covered a variety of effecting the arms and hands while learning to fabricate several different devices. We started with mock appointments, using our classmates as patients, and did full evaluations and casting before starting fabrication. Through this process, we learned how to fit a variety of off-the-shelf devices and created our own custom wrist hand orthoses and elbow orthoses that we later delivered to our “patients.” We finished the class by testing our elbow orthoses with a spirited cornhole tournament!

We’ve now started lower limb orthotics in the past week and have already made great progress! We carried out similar evaluations on our classmates and recently completed our custom foot orthoses that we will be delivering.

Despite our busy classwork, we were able to experience local Tampa tradition at the Gasparilla Pirate Festival with our peers and faculty! Along Bayshore we watched the parade and collected more beads that we could count during this famed event in our community! Moving forward we look forward to continuing our orthotic studies before getting our white coats next month and getting to meet with local patient models for the first time!