Samuel Wiedmann is an orthopedic technician in Heidelberg. He often accompanies the children he looks after from infancy to adulthood. The father of four also recently wrote a book. In an interview with Wombly adaptive kidswear, Samuel explains why his job is the best in the world.
WOMBLY: Samuel, you are a master of orthopedic technology. Can you explain to us what exactly you're doing?
Samuel: We orthopedic technicians produce a wide variety of aids. At Pohlig, the focus is on individually manufactured aids, with a focus on children's care. In the Heidelberg branch, our focus is primarily on orthotics and prosthetics. This is also how we became aware of Wombly. The topic of adaptive clothing is exciting for orthosis patients because putting the aids on and taking them off is often an issue, and it is of course important that you can do it easily.
WOMBLY: Are the orthoses and prostheses properly made by hand?
Samuel: Our job is a real – and very varied – skilled trade. We manufacture each aid individually for each child and adapt it accordingly as they grow. Where adapter parts are installed, you can simply adjust the length slightly over the course of a treatment, but your body also changes over time. Our main work is the individual adjustment according to the misalignments and deformities.
WOMBLY: And can the children choose what their prosthesis looks like, for example? Are there any design decisions?
Samuel: Yes, sure. We work with laminating resin materials during production, so we can laminate fabric into them. We have a selection of decorative fabrics in stock for the children to choose from. But there are also always very creative families who get some crazy materials themselves that we then incorporate. This is great for the children because it means they identify much more strongly with the aid. It’s much more “theirs.” From Paw Patrol and unicorns to Marvel, everything is there.
WOMBLY: How did you come to this career choice?
Samuel: I was still very young when I started my training. I still remember my first week at work - I didn't really know what everyone else was doing. But I then completed my training and specialized in leg prosthetics, and now, after the years I've been doing it, I have to say: I couldn't think of a better job. The craftsmanship is very important to me - now of course I'm mainly in the office and do administrative work. But the most important thing for me is that we are in direct contact with all patients. You learn a lot, and of course it goes far beyond a craft activity. You accompany the children for years, ultimately even more closely than a teacher. For example, in families whose children have congenital malformations. I have a few cases that I learned about as a small child. At some point, suddenly the first appointment they come to alone, without parents. They sit alone in the waiting room and I ask: “Where are your parents?” Then they say: “I’m alone today, I now have my driver’s license!” Or they come for the first time accompanied by a boyfriend or girlfriend. And then suddenly the first ones have a changed last name or come with a partner or a baby. Then of course you remember how they were here as little children. Now suddenly there are people who are in the middle of life. And I know: I play a part in it with my work.
WOMBLY: I studied fashion, which also involves a lot of craftsmanship. Unfortunately, that's hardly part of my job anymore, and I miss that too. I imagine this combination of craftsmanship and contact with people is really nice.
Samuel: In the journeyman and master craftsman exams, orthopedic technicians still have to sew bodices today: supporting bodices made of fabric, properly created with a pattern and taken measurements. My girlfriend - now my wife - got a few bodices from me when I was taking my exams (laughs).
WOMBLY: Wow, a tailored bodice isn't the easiest sewing exercise. It's remarkable that this is part of the exam - otherwise your job actually has nothing to do with sewing, right?
Samuel: Yes, textiles come up again and again. Not so much in prosthetics, but there are bandages and soft orthoses and also entire suits, Lycra compression suits for spastically paralyzed children who can build up better body tension with compression and also improve their coordination. The area of compression fittings is large and covers a lot from vein therapy to scar therapy. There is a very exciting product from the textile sector: the Mollii Suit from Ottobock, a full-body suit with electrical stimulation elements that MS patients, for example, can use to stimulate themselves. This can significantly improve body tone.
WOMBLY: This summer you supported the German Paralympic team as a technician.
Samuel: That was just great. I was working in an interdisciplinary workshop with an international team, a mix of very different people. There I talked to a colleague from the development department at Ottobock in Vienna, who is a textile engineer. We discussed intensively about elastic materials such as mesh fabric. This is an important topic in prosthetics because it greatly increases the comfort of incorporating elastic areas into the restoration. A prosthetic socket, for example, that has a stump in it, of course has to be very stable, made of solid material that doesn't break. The connections must be stable, the prosthetic knee joint for example. Patients sometimes sit a lot and then having a hard edge on the prosthetic socket is very uncomfortable. In certain areas we “window” the very hard carbon fiber laminate to make straight seat edges flexible.
However, the professional exchange was only a small side effect of the collaboration with colleagues from a wide range of areas of orthopedic technology. Otto Bock has provided the entire infrastructure for all Paralympic Games since 1988, including the team for all repairs of aids. Over a period of almost 4 weeks, the workshop team of around 160 employees, orthopedic technicians and physiotherapists, carried out around 3000 repairs on a wide range of aids. Being part of this team of 41 nationalities and 32 different languages was a very special experience.
WOMBLY: The topic of materials is very exciting. A lot is happening in this area, surely new materials and new options are constantly being added?
Samuel: Absolutely. Of course, 3D printing is currently a big topic. This is being widely promoted because there are companies that are very interested in printing as much as possible. We carefully consider where it really makes sense. Theoretically you could print anything, but the currently printable wall thicknesses are too thick or the weight is too high for long-term stability. We use pretty high-quality carbon fiber laminates that we don't print, but produce using a lamination process. They are currently far superior to 3D printing materials. But in certain areas, 3D printing has its right to exist and, above all, offers huge advantages in the future. That's why it's particularly important to us in the company to know the latest technologies and use them in a targeted manner. In the workshop in the Olympic Village we had a 3D printer so that we could print spare parts on site that were not immediately available.
WOMBLY: Do you work with institutions such as social pediatric centers or are you only in direct contact with families?
Samuel: There is an SPZ that we permanently look after and different SPZs and practices that send patients to us. We are on site in “our” SPZ once a week and have also rented a workshop space there. There we go to consultation hours, look at the patients together with the doctors or therapists and decide together what type of care is necessary.
WOMBLY: Do you only care for children and young people?
Samuel: Our focus is on caring for children and young people, but of course we also offer adult care. Simply because we look after the children until they become adults. Of course, the majority of children with prostheses have a congenital malformation. There are hardly any amputee children in Germany. Fortunately, the corresponding diagnoses are extremely rare. Amputations are largely due to vascular occlusion, for example due to diabetes, smoking or sepsis. Very few of these diagnoses are made in childhood. Our portfolio includes prosthetics of all levels and for all ages.
WOMBLY: There are sometimes cases with our customers that are very close to our hearts. How are you doing with that at work?
Samuel: I've been dealing with this topic for a long time. I always call it “the psychological aspect of trying on aids”. For several years I worked primarily in the area of dysmelia care, i.e. congenital malformations. It is noticeable that the acceptance of aids and also the acceptance of the disability is very high. The children perceive themselves with an incredible amount of naturalness. They are what they are. They feel normal because they have never been different. The parents struggle a lot more at the beginning, which I can completely understand. You just have to remember this saying: “No matter what happens, as long as it is healthy”. What should our children's parents say about this? You can't say anything anymore. This is madness. But I don't notice any tendency towards resignation among these parents. Of course, at some point there has to be an acceptance that it is the way it is, but that usually happens. And the children usually surprise you with what they can do and how well they develop: they are like little surprise bags. This is beautiful to see and is true in most cases.
WOMBLY: And are there other areas of need where this is different?
Samuel: At some point I took over management of the entire prosthesis area and suddenly had a lot to do with people whose limbs had been amputated. It was a huge change: these were people who were used to walking on two legs, and suddenly one was missing. As technicians, we notice again and again that we are more or less held responsible for life becoming “normal again”. Many people say: “I just want to be able to walk again.” But I often feel that the subtext is: “I just want everything to be the way it was before.” But it will never be that way again become the same as before, and accepting that is the key to a new quality of life. Those who understand this gain so much - much more than from running itself. That's why I always say: the biggest step happens in the head, not with the feet.
WOMBLY: Some people have the ability to adapt particularly well to new situations.
Samuel: Yes, that's the thing about resilience. When you look at how a Samuel Koch rolls through the world, you obviously don't know whether he always feels the way he seems. But he could have said, my life is over, and everyone would have understood him. But he didn't do that.
WOMBLY: That means that children dying is something that doesn't actually happen with you.
Samuel: No, fortunately not. This occurs very occasionally in children who have had an amputation after a tumor due to bone cancer, but it is very rare. And I have to say about the previous topic: we orthopedic technicians actually all have helper syndrome, but we can really do something. We can do something with our hands to make people feel better. This is simply a fact that makes it easier for us. People come to us with their fate and the path that still lies ahead of them, but we can actively do our part to make it easier or better.
WOMBLY: Wombly adaptive kidswear develops adaptive clothing for children with care needs, for example for the needs of the children you care for. How important do you think it is that special clothing is offered for this?
Samuel: It is always an issue with patients how to access the aids in everyday life. Many people have a zipper sewn into the side of their pants, including many adults. This is incredibly practical because you can get to it quickly even in public if, for example, something has slipped. This isn't such a big problem with a baby or toddler, but for an older child it quickly becomes uncomfortable if they have to take off all of their pants in public. There are also always phases with fixators, where the right trouser width plays a role. In my opinion, arm prosthetics, which we also offer, are a little easier to trick than leg prosthetics.
WOMBLY: Samuel, you also wrote a book: a children's book. It's called: "Ole and the workshop for legs that are too short" and was published by Spikebart Verlag in 2022.
Samuel: Yes. The mother of a patient with a prosthesis spoke to me: her son was starting a new class. Do I know of a children's book that she could give to the new teacher to work on the topic a bit and prepare the class for it? But there wasn't a book like that and I thought, it can't be that hard to make a book like that. (laughs) So it took a little longer than I thought. A doctor from Erlangen, Holm Schneider, and his wife, a publisher, founded this publishing house and publish a lot on the subject of inclusion. It really turned out to be a beautiful book.
WOMBLY: We think so too. Dear Samuel, we thank you for this conversation.
The interview was conducted by Lina Phyllis Falkner.
