Year: 2026 | Month: July-September | Volume: 11 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 342-353
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/gijhsr.20260337
Integration of Additive Manufacturing in Prosthetics and Orthotics
Manoj Kumar Tiwari1, Sanjana Palaskar2, Mukta Tiwari3
1Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics, All India Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mumbai, India
2Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics, All India Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mumbai, India
3Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Corresponding Author: Manoj Kumar Tiwari
ABSTRACT
Additive manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, has transformed the fabrication of prosthetic and orthotic devices by enabling rapid, cost-effective, and customized production across a diverse range of materials. By tailoring geometry and material composition to individual anatomy, AM has improved fit, function and patient comfort while reducing production time and cost compared with traditional casting and CNC-milling workflows. This review summarizes the core AM technologies used in Prosthetics and Orthotics (P&O)-fused deposition modelling, selective laser sintering, and stereolithography-alongside their principal material families, and traces their clinical application in orthoses, prosthetic sockets and finite-element-guided device design. It further discusses the emerging role of 4D printing, in which materials are engineered to change shape or properties in response to environmental stimuli, and outlines an early concept of 5D printing that adds embedded information as a fifth dimension for actively responsive P&O devices. Five recent case studies illustrate how AM is already improving access to prosthetic care, particularly in low-resource settings. The review closes with a critical assessment of the material, regulatory, and intellectual-property barriers that must be addressed for AM to be adopted at scale in P&O practice, and proposes a systematic framework spanning body-part scanning through to final printing.
Keywords: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing, 4D printing, Rapid prototyping, Customization, Prosthetics, Orthotics