People are at the centre of everything we do

Three questions for Prof. Dr Christoph Lohmann, Congress President of OTWorld 2028

How can orthopaedic treatment and care bring together the strengths of different professions? For Prof. Dr Christoph Lohmann, Director of the University Department of Orthopaedics in Magdeburg, direct dialogue and an understanding of each other’s professional perspectives are key. Together with Thomas Mitzenheim, he represents this interdisciplinary approach as Congress President of OTWorld 2028. In this interview, he explains why collaboration requires more than a prescription and why, for him, people are at the centre of all the professions involved.

1. Few events represent the close collaboration between medicine and prosthetics and orthotics as strongly as OTWorld. What do you personally value about working with prosthetists and orthotists?

Prof. Dr Christoph Lohmann: Our shared goal must be to provide patient-centred treatment and care. Particularly in complex cases involving medical aids, this requires medical expertise just as much as expertise in prosthetics and orthotics. Both professions look at the patient from their respective professional perspectives – and to provide the best possible treatment and care, these perspectives need to come together.

For me, this is one of OTWorld’s great strengths: every two years, it creates a space where the different professions can exchange expertise as equal partners.

2. Where do you see collaboration between medicine and prosthetics and orthotics already working particularly well today – and where do you see further potential?

Lohmann: Collaboration works particularly well where people actually talk to one another. Sending a prescription and perhaps subsequently being asked to amend it does not constitute interprofessional collaboration in my view. Particularly in orthopaedic treatment and care, we are very often dealing with highly individual situations. Direct contact is essential – human-to-human interaction: What are the patient’s goals and needs? What can we achieve medically? What is technically possible?

Medicine and prosthetics and orthotics bring different ways of thinking and their own specialist terminology. The key is to overcome the boundaries this can create between the professions and develop a common language. For me, this also means strengthening medical knowledge of technical orthopaedics and orthopaedic treatment and care in education and advanced training.

At the same time, both professions face conditions that are making individual, locally accessible treatment and care increasingly challenging. We should not discuss these issues separately. We share responsibility for ensuring that high-quality treatment and care close to people’s homes remains available in the future.

3. Alongside medicine and prosthetics and orthotics, orthopaedic footwear technology, physiotherapy and other professions also play an important role in the World Congress. What is the value of bringing so many disciplines into dialogue at OTWorld?

Lohmann: With its interdisciplinary approach, OTWorld can help us break down boundaries between professions and develop a better understanding of one another. For me, interdisciplinarity also means moving away from traditional hierarchies. As Congress President, I want to strengthen the principle of patient-centred treatment and care: it is not only doctors and prosthetists and orthotists, but every profession involved in treatment and care that contributes its own specialist expertise. People are at the centre, bringing together all these different areas of expertise.

On this basis, we can explore new approaches together – in research and development as well as in the use of new technologies. Particularly in view of the shortage of skilled professionals, we need to consider where digital tools can provide meaningful support and reduce workloads. But there is one thing we must not allow to happen: a loss of quality.

Captions:

Fig. 1: An insight into the clinical work of Congress President Prof. Dr Christoph Lohmann: during a visit to the University Department of Orthopaedics in Magdeburg in August 2026, Lohmann also took the OTWorld team on a tour of the operating theatre complex. Pictured (from left to right): Ruth Justen (BIV-OT), Sahra Iking and Antje Feldmann (both Confairmed GmbH), Dr med. Agnieszka Halm-Pozniak and Prof. Dr Christoph Lohmann (both University Department of Orthopaedics in Magdeburg), and Anja Hummel (Leipziger Messe).

Fig. 2: Exchanging ideas in preparation for OTWorld 2028: in August 2026, the OTWorld team visited Congress President Prof. Dr Christoph Lohmann at his workplace in Magdeburg. Pictured (from left to right): Anja Hummel (Leipziger Messe), Sahra Iking (Confairmed GmbH), Dr med. Agnieszka Halm-Pozniak (University Department of Orthopaedics in Magdeburg), Ruth Justen (BIV-OT), Antje Feldmann (Confairmed GmbH) and Prof. Dr Christoph Lohmann (University Department of Orthopaedics in Magdeburg).