Jobs / Healthcare / 29-2091.00

Orthotists and Prosthetists

Design, measure, fit, and adapt orthopedic braces, appliances or prostheses, such as limbs or facial parts for patients with disabling conditions.

US jobs
9,390
Median wage
$81,110 a year
Job family
Healthcare

Can agents do the work of orthotists and prosthetists?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Healthcare:

  • Task levelPartialOne benchmark, from early 2025. On Stanford's MedAgentBench, where agents do clinical tasks in a simulated electronic health record, the best recorded model completes 69.7% of tasks (Claude 3.5 Sonnet v2). It has no maintained leaderboard, so newer models are not measured. No benchmark in our collection tests work with patients.
  • Project levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. GDPval includes nurses among its 44 occupations. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons across all occupations. No benchmark in our collection tests clinical work over days, such as managing a patient's care.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in healthcare, not always this occupation's tasks.

  • GDPvalby OpenAIProject level · Wins plus ties against experts
    84.9%GPT-5.5 · Apr 2026
    Strong
  • GDPval-AAby Artificial AnalysisProject level · GDPval-AA Elo
    1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026
    Unrated
  • MedAgentBenchby Stanford UniversityTask level · Task success rate
    69.7%Claude 3.5 Sonnet v2 · 24 Jan 2025
    Strong

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • 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.
  • Show and explain orthopedic and prosthetic appliances to healthcare workers.
  • Train and supervise support staff, such as orthopedic and prosthetic assistants and technicians.
Other job titles for this occupation (28)

Certified Orthotist (CO) · Certified Pedorthist · Certified Prosthetist (CP) · Certified Prosthetist Orthotist (CPO) · Licensed Orthotist · LPO (Licensed Prosthetist Orthotist) · Orthotic Practitioner · Orthotist · Prosthetic Practitioner · Prosthetist · American Board Certified Orthotist (ABC Orthotist) · Artificial Limb Fitter · Board Orthotist · Board Prosthetist · Certified Orthotic Fitter · Licensed Prosthetist · Orthopedic Assistant · Orthopedic Mechanic · Orthotic and Prosthetic Technician (Orthotic and Prosthetic Tech) · Orthotic Clinician · Orthotic Fitter · Orthotic Technician (Orthotic Tech) · Orthotics Assistant · Orthotist and Prosthetist · Orthotist Clinician · Pedorthist · Prosthetic Clinician · Prosthetics Assistant