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`I Carl Caspers, CPO: innovation Sparked by Personal Experience
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`Carl Caspers, CPO: Innovation Sparked by
`Personal Experience
`
`lThe 003195005;
`Man2013
`i
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`By Garrison Wells
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`Content provudedbyThe0&PEDCE
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`_
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`,.
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`,,
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`Current issue — Free Subscriptio — Free eNewsietter — Advertise
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`Carl Caspers, CPO, widely recognized as the father of vacuum suspension, was a
`pioneer in using scientific inquiry and research to develop groundbreaking
`products in the 0&P industry early in his career, long before science was a part
`of the profession ’s vernacular.
`
`The 08:? profession, Caspers says, is beginning to
`
`understand the importance of science, research, and
`data collection to patients' treatment—and to the
`
`growth of the profession as well. Putting the study of
`science and scientific method into play "started for me
`early in my career,“ he says. “I do believe that [the
`
`profession is] heading in that direction."
`
`At age 72, Caspers has led a vibrant life and pursued a
`
`career that has reaped him numerous awards and 18
`
`patents for liners, suspension sleeves, and post—
`operative and volume—management products, as well as
`
`technology for the prosthetic industry. The former CEO
`and cofounder of TEC Interface Systems, Waite Park,
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`http:l/www.oandp.comlarticles/2013-05i07.asp
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`2/13/2014
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`Otto Bock
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`Exhibit 2003
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`Page1
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`Otto Bock Exhibit 2003 Page 1
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`Carl Caspers, CPO: Innovation Spal'ked by Personal Experience I May 2013 l The 0&P E... Page 2 of 7
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`Minnesota, which he sold in 2003 to Ottobock,
`
`Minneapolis, Minnesota, was recognized the year before
`the saie by Fast Company magazine as one of its Fast
`
`50 innovators. And in 2012, Caspers was inducted into
`the Minnesota inventors Hall of Fame.
`
`Accident Leads to Career Choice
`
`An accident led Caspers to enter 0&P—one that he
`
`remembers with great ciarity.
`
`In 1959, at the age of 18, he was practicing fast—draw
`for a shooting club that he was in when his gun went off
`in his holster. "It didn't clear the holster and dumped
`the round down the holster into my leg," he recalls. "lt
`traveled around, went down into my ankle, and took out
`the major nerves and vessels in my lower leg."
`
`Because he was a mile from civilization, he applied a
`tourniquet and walked back to his car. He tried to drive
`home, but the injury forced him to stop at a farmhouse,
`where he was finally picked up by an ambulance.
`
`He spent eight weeks in the hospital, eventually
`undergoing a transtibial amputation. "It was the
`
`tourniquet," he says. "It was probably on too long and
`the gun certainly did [damage]." It was devastating
`emotionally for a young man who had just placed third
`in the state wrestling tournament and planned to attend
`coHege.
`
`Caspers poses with the
`
`welcome figure at his Florida
`condo in 2007, photographs
`courtesyofCar/Caspers.
`"-
`
`
`
`anneso El
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`t
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`-
`"For me, it was a life—changing event," Caspers says.
`F325”? 5993:2315
`"But it put me into a profession where I've been able to
`bring a lot of good Into the Industry and to other people Inventors Hall of Fame.
`who are amputees. i would say It's all a plus.
`
`.
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`.
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`.
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`In UC Ion In 0
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`e
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`Caspers says he began a reientless search for a prosthesis that would allow him to
`do ail of the things he wanted to do. He found little, he says, and what he did find
`was disappointing. For instance, the lack of iinkage was disappointing, he says,
`especially for an active person. That led him to develop the liners and his latest
`invention, a multisurface, dynamically activated, variable response socket.
`
`http:llwww.oandp.com/a1'ticles/2013-05_07.asp
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`2/13/2014
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`Otto Bock
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`Exhibit 2003
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`PageZ
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`Otto Bock Exhibit 2003 Page 2
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`Cari Caspers, CPO: Innovation Sparked by Personal Experience I May 2013 I The 0&P E... Page 3 of 7
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`"I've been mainly driven because the solutions and the answers were not in the
`normal area i was traveling," he says. "To find the answers, I had to look elsewhere."
`
`The prosthesis that he was fitted with at the time “was absolutely a miserable thing
`to have to wear. It was really bad," Caspers says. "I was not ready to quit living and
`was anxious to get on with my life."
`
`He says he suffered blisters, ulcers, and cysts, and had to go through a couple of
`surgeries due to prosthetic wear.
`
`Throughout this time, however, Caspers' prosthetist developed a rapport with him
`and asked if he would work for him. "He said i would be really good at this and
`asked me if I would work there," Caspers says. "It was what I needed to hear."
`
`Caspers decided to pursue an education in 0&P and was accepted into the program
`at the Northwestern University Prosthetics—Orthotics Center, Chicago, Illinois, when
`another student dropped out. It was a quick turnaround. The year after his accident,
`he was a fledgling prosthetist, learning his way around.
`
`Searching for "Out of the Box" Solutions
`
`Caspers says he has never been the type to work within the confines of an
`industry‘s tradition. "I look at things differently," he says. From the beginning he
`sought solutions in science—something he says was not the standard approach at
`the time. "I contacted prosthetists all over the country and found out quickly that
`none ofthem knew more than i did about what was going on in terms of the
`scientific side of things," he says. "I constantly went back to schooi to take courses
`and learn the science and new technologies."
`
`Of his patents, he says that three stand out because of their contribution to the 08:?
`profession. "I've had probably three or four things We done that are really
`significant, as far as the industry is concerned," Caspers says. "i was the first one to
`bring soft socket liner technology. That was some time ago, but there wasn't
`anybody doing that at the time. We were selling liners for five years before anybody
`else entered the market."
`
`The second innovation he cites as important for the industry was the discovery of
`the use of atmospheric pressure, or vacuum, as a means to control the socket
`
`environment. The discovery improved the linkage between the residual limb and
`socket and allowed for the volume changes that occur when a person wears a
`prosthesis.
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`http:l/www.oandp.comfartioles/2013~05_07.asp
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`Otto Bock
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`Exhibit 2003
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`Page 3
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`2/13/2014
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`Otto Bock Exhibit 2003 Page 3
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`Carl Caspers, CPO: Innovation Sparked by Personal Experience I May 2013 l The 0&P E... Page 4 of 7
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`His third is his newest product, the dynamically activated variable response socket.
`He's been working on it for the last dozen or so years with Glenn Street, PhD,
`professor of biomechanics at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota, who codirects
`its Human Performance Laboratory.
`
`"I developed a semiflexibie inner socket, injected, molded, urethaned with
`multisurfacing," Casper says. “it's really very simple. The multisurface increases the
`surface area. It can increase the surface area of the socket by 100 percent, a huge
`advantage when you are trying to spread forces around."
`
`University studies indicate the socket can increase the linkage between the residual
`limb and the socket by 400 percent, he adds. “These are big numbers. It's not
`something that you see in our industry very much."
`
`The socket has been introduced to the market on a limited scaie; there are more
`than 200 patients using it, including one from Russia.
`
`Caspers leads an active and full life. That comes in part from his adventurous spirit.
`It also comes from piying his trade. He is his own guinea pig, a sort of Beta male.
`When he develops a new product, it is often related to or inspired by difficulties he
`finds with prosthetic devices in his own life.
`
`"I do a lot of things," Caspers says. "I'm a sporting clay shooter, a rifle and pistol
`shooter. I am also a motorcycle rider, and I've been a power lifter ail my life.“
`
`He works out four or five times a week, plays in a racquetball league, and used to
`race his Dodge Viper. He and his wife, Barbara, have traveled ail over the United
`States and Canada.
`
`Caspers' lifestyle is an example of the increase in the more active patients
`prosthetists are seeing who don't want to sacrifice their ability to be active—a trend
`that is not limited just to younger people with amputations or to athletes and
`soidiers, but that is also finding its way into the geriatric popuiation, he says.
`
`Changing Course
`
`These days, Caspers has traded the challenges of owning a company with 49
`employees and wearing the multiple hats of designer, educator, and manager, for
`the simplicity of a streamlined operation ofjust him and his wife. Together they are
`a 24/7 Operation. He hires out the manufacturing of his latest product, the variable
`response socket, and produces about four a day. "it allows me to concentrate more
`on the education side and the final production side," Caspers says. "it keeps it
`
`http:l/m-vwnandp.comfarticles/ZO i 3-05_07.asp
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`2/13/2014
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`Otto Bock
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`Exhibit 2003
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`Page4
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`Otto Bock Exhibit 2003 Page 4
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`Carl Caspers, CPO: Innovation Sparked by Personal Experience 1 May 2013 l The 0&P E... Page 5 of 7
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`simple. My interest really at this time is to get this technology into the current
`market and help amputees live a better life."
`
`son, Tony.
`
`Caspers with wife, Barbara, center, at their 50th
`anniversary celebration with daughter, Cori, and
`
`
`
`Caspers would like to find a larger company that will buy the design "and go
`beyond where I am now." So far he has had discussions with one major international
`firm that has expressed an interest, he says.
`
`Caspers isn'tjust a man with an innovation; he is also a man with a message and
`some strong Opinions. People, he says, tend to return to what they know. So the
`profession and industry gets new products, techniques, and methods, stumbles a
`bit, and rushes back to the safety of tradition, he says. Playing it safe doesn't always
`pay off.
`
`He wouid also like to see more connection between surgeons who perform
`amputations and prosthetists who fit the patients. He understands the restrictions
`that surgeons face, but at the same time says he feels they could perform more
`reconstructive surgery that would improve the connection between the residuai iimb
`and socket.
`
`"As an industry, we haven't gone to the doctors and said this isn't working," he says.
`"We just take whatever comes off the table."
`
`Caspers says he would also iike to see the profession continue on its path,
`nationally and internationally, into a more scientific realm. He sees the movement
`of 0&P associations in the United States and internationally to develop guidelines
`for scientific research as a positive step.
`
`http://www.oanclp.com/articles/ZO13-05MO7.asp
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`Otto Bock
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`Exhibit 2003
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`Page5
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`2/13/2014
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`Otto Bock Exhibit 2003 Page 5
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`Carl Caspers, CPO: Innovation Sparked by Personal Experience I May 2013 | The 0&P E” Page 6 of 7
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`"I think that's kind of where we departed," he says. "I've found that trying all the
`{products} that were out there didn't change things for me, but when I started
`applying physics and physiology and getting involved with the university and
`engineers, that there are things we can do." For all of his success, he still has a
`closet full of products that didn't make it to market. But that doesn't mean those
`products have been forever shelved.
`
`"Sure, I've got a lot of things that didn't work, but that's part of learning," he says.
`"And they aren't bad answers. They arejust not the right answers. But you learn a
`lot when you make errors and find out that wasn't the right solution."
`
`"The industry," Caspers adds, "needs to get into the science, too. That's where the
`solutions can be found."
`
`Carr/son Wells is an awardmwinning freelance writer and author based in Colorado
`Springs, Colorado. He has written for newspapers and magazines nationwide and
`authored five books on martial arts. He can be reached at
`
`garrison. wel/screa tive@gmail. com
`
`[fij SHRRE gigs};
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`Otto Bock
`
`Exhibit 2003
`
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`Otto Bock Exhibit 2003 Page 6
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`Carl Caspers, CPO: Innovation Sparked by Personal Experience I May 2013 l The 0&P E... Page 7 of 7
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