Pitt’s Prosthetics and Orthotics program has a diverse curriculum that covers a wide range of topics including:
Trans-tibial, trans-femoral and upper extremity prosthetics
Lower and upper extremity and spinal orthotics
Rehabilitation biomechanics
Rehabilitation engineering and technologies
Students learn from faculty who are connected with industry leaders and have global networks through research or academic collaborations and advocacy.
Example Plan of Study
Please note that several night classes are taken on the main campus in Oakland and are not exclusive to the Bakery Square lab and facility location.
Year 1
Fall Term
Functional Anatomy and Kinesiology
Pathology in Orthotics and Prosthetics
Introduction to materials, Equipment and Fabrication
Rehabilitation Biomechanics for the Health Care Professions
Professional Issues in Prosthetics and Orthotics
Patient Management in Orthotics and Prosthetics
Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice and Research Methodologies
Spring Term
Orthotics 1
Prosthetics 1
Capstone for Prosthetics and Orthotics
Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice in Orthotics and Prosthetics
Ethical Issues in Health Care
Summer Term
Orthotics 2
Prosthetics 2
Spinal Orthotics
Year 2
Fall Term
Orthotics 3
Prosthetics 3
Issues in Health System
Fundamentals of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Applications
Individual and Social Experience of Disability
Spring Term
Master of Prosthetics and Orthotics Clinical Internship
Scholarly Paper
Practice Management in Prosthetics and Orthotics
The program’s comprehensive exam is scheduled during this term and is set up in a style similar to that of NCOPE board exams. Passing this exam is a mandatory graduation requirement.
Course Completion
Each course in the curriculum is offered only once during the academic year, therefore, any departure from completing a course in its planned sequence (for example: failure, for any reason, to satisfactorily complete a required course; an unresolved “G” or “Incomplete” grade) will result in a one-year delay in completing the course, the remaining program requirements, and the year of graduation.
Thesis/Non-Thesis Options
All Prosthetics and Orthotics students are required to complete at least a Capstone Project, under the direction of a faculty advisor and an additional faculty reader. However, as a substitute for the Capstone Project, the student may elect to complete a master’s thesis, under the direction of a faculty advisor and thesis committee.
Students electing to pursue the thesis option will complete:
3 credits of Graduate Research Proposal in place of the 1 credit Capstone
2 credits of Scholarly Paper
3 credits of Graduate Research
This will change the total amount of completed credits from 65 to 68.
