.jpg)
After almost four decades growing his experience in the prosthetic industry, Robert Carey, CP, had a decision to face when COVID shut things down in 2020. He knew he needed to gain more control of his situation, so he pursued his dream to put patients first by founding his clinic A Leg to Stand On in Eastman, Georgia.
At first, Robert did all his fab work by hand, which he knew wouldn’t be sustainable. “I’ve struggled with arthritis for a long time,” Robert shared. “Doing modifications of casts is hard work on your hands.”
For a solo practitioner balancing growth, family, and chronic joint pain, Robert took the leap to bring in Galileo.
“Letting someone else do the modifying was one of the hardest things ever,” Robert admitted. “There’s a learning curve, no doubt, but Galileo has really come through,” he added.
He highlighted how using Galileo has shifted the strain on his hands. “Younger clinicians might not understand it yet, but this work is tough on your body. Galileo has taken a toll off.”
Not only does it give his hands a rest, but his lungs too, and he’s gained so much more time back. “If I nail the socket down pretty close, I don’t have to do anything to it besides take it to the sander, make it smooth, and buff it, which takes maybe 15 minutes,” he explained. “Plus, I no longer have to breathe near the stuff until I go to final lamination.”
With a streamlined process that allows for overnight test socket prints, Robert has reclaimed both time and physical energy. “I’ve only turned my oven on twice in six months,” he said of eliminating most of his equipment usage. “Galileo lets me print while I’m not even at the shop. I can do 2 in a day, 1 at night. That’s huge.”
Robert also finds freedom in Galileo’s repeatability. “What’s beautiful about the printer is that I can repeat a print over and over. If I cut too much off and don’t like it, I just print it again.”
Printing uses a lot less material than what he would have to pay for traditional fabrication. “I can do all these steps in manufacturing to make half flexible inner brims, which uses a lot of material. The printer doesn’t.” And by printing half-brim flexible inners and merging them with copoly sockets, he can create lighter, more flexible solutions for his patients.
That’s not to say the machinery and process is without its share of troubleshooting. Still, Robert is glad for the support he’s received. “Customer support has been great,” he said. “Doesn’t mean they get it the first time, but they do everything they possibly can.”
Though solutions aren’t always imminent, he’s learned it’s better to call about his requests anyway. “If I call, they’re gonna get me a response pretty quick,” he added. That responsiveness has made it easier to keep pushing forward, even through the learning curve.
For clinicians considering the jump to digital, Robert urges them to push through the hesitation. “Change is hard. Giving up control is hard. But if you commit to the system, it will help you.”
Robert Carey joined the program in February 2024 and has since printed over 170 products on the Galileo machine. As he put it: “If I can start my own business and make this shift, anyone can.”
.png)
.png)
.png)
