QUORUM

Quorum Prosthetics has been in business for over 21 years and provides services to over 4,000 customers a year. With three locations in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming, including a manufacturing facility in Windsor, Colorado, Quorum is the premier prosthetic manufacturer and treatment center for the region. The company sees over $3 million a year in revenue. The company provides for a wide variety of customers, ranging from amputees requiring full prosthetics to people in need of orthot... ics. As an all inclusive provider, Quorum is able to make all the products in-house while also providing for the customer’s needs including consultations, measurements, and physical therapy. Quorum services many customers with above the knee and elbow amputations. These clients require a specialized approach in order to be able to move naturally and comfortably. Quorum invests time and effort into researching the most effective approaches to these types of prosthetics. Joe Johnson, the co-owner/CEO of the company, holds one patent and has another five pending for products that may revolutionize the current approach for these customers. The full patent is for a product called “The Quatro.” The Quatro is a revolutionary new design that will allow a user to have additional adjustability, comfort, performance, and efficiency that is not available with existing sockets. It is the only device on the market that allows three zones of compression, all easily adjusted through BOA RevoFit™ dials. Best of all, it can fit on any user’s existing socket, helping to save the user costs and add flexibility while increasing Quorum’s customer base. While the Quatro can be used with most any design, Quorum has chosen to partner with Biodesigns to utilize the highly effective HiFi socket for the prototypes. The HiFi system offers a high level of intrinsic bone control as the interface captures and reproduces skeletal motion. The system has been proven to decrease hip abduction by 14 degrees, increase hip extension 13 degrees, and provide less circumduction, allowing the subject to feel more stable. When these aspects come together, the HiFi socket provides the patient increased proprioception and prosthetic control and the ability to walk faster with a more symmetrical gait. Due to this compression, the HiFi is excellent at capturing and stabilizing a residual bone. However, the same technology makes it tougher for many patients to don the socket as they are typically swollen in the morning. Through research, it was also discovered that a residual limb can fluctuate up to 8.5% throughout an 8 hour period. This can be due to factors such as heat, water loss/gain, or aggravation. The HiFi system is also incapable of adjusting for this fluctuation. Quorum developed a solution to these drawbacks. The Quatro offers three independently adjustable zones, which allow fluctuations as high as 10% while also providing 60 pounds of compression. The wearer can modify the compression and overall size by simply adjusting one of the three knobs located on the socket. Quorum chose to utilize BOA dials for changing compression because they allow for easy adjustments and rapid donning and doffing. Current technologies do not allow this level of freedom and comfort and many users resort to padding their socket with socks or other materials to adjust for fluctuation and comfort. The partnerships not only provide great materials for this design, but they will help the company scale operations as it introduces the Quatro to market. The design fits on almost any existing socket, allowing Quatro to work with most companies, including their existing agreement with Biodesigns. Also, with an investment in new technologies, Quorum will be able to receive scans of patients limbs from any practitioner in the world and produce a custom designed Quatro for anyone, regardless of proximity.