Össur hf. () is a company based in Iceland that develops, manufactures and sells non-invasive equipment for

orthopaedics Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

, including bracing and support products, compression therapy, and

prosthetics In medicine, a prosthesis (: prostheses; from ), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (congenital disorder). Prosthe ...

. The company is headquartered in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

, with offices in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and distributors in other markets.

History

Össur was founded in Iceland in 1971 by Össur Kristinsson, a prosthetist. His family owned the company until 1999, when it went public and was listed on the

Iceland Stock Exchange The Nasdaq Iceland, formerly known as the Iceland Stock Exchange (ICEX) ( ), is a stock exchange for Icelandic bonds and equities. Companies in sectors such as retail, fishing, transportation, banking and real estate are listed on the exchange. ...

. Initially, the company served only the domestic Icelandic market, and then began to export in 1986 and expanded rapidly through a series of strategic acquisitions. Össur has been listed on the

NASDAQ Copenhagen The Nasdaq Copenhagen, formerly known as the Copenhagen Stock Exchange (), is an international marketplace for Denmark, Danish securities, including shares, Bond (finance), bonds, treasury bills and notes, and financial Futures contract, future ...

Stock Exchange since 2009 and celebrated 20 years as a

publicly traded company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

in 2019, by ringing the closing bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

. As of 2019 it employs more than 3,500 people in over 25 locations. In 2006, the company was named as a "technology pioneer" by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

Acquisitions

Since 2000, Össur has acquired over 20 companies: * 2000 – Skóstofan * 2000 – Flex-Foot, Inc. * 2000 – PI Medical AB.Flex-Foot Parent Buys Two Swedish ProstheticFirms.
/ref> * 2000 – Karlsson & Bergstrom AB. * 2000 – Century XXII Innovations, Inc * 2003 – Linea Orthopedics AB. * 2003 – Generation II Group, Inc. * 2005 – Advanced Prosthetic Components * 2005 – Royce Medical, Inc. * 2005 – Innovative Medical Products, Ltd. * 2005 – GBM Medical AB. * 2006 – Innovation Sports, Inc. * 2006 – Gibaud Group * 2007 – SOMAS * 2010 – Orthopaedic Partner Africa * 2012 – Evolution Industries * 2013 – TeamOlmed * 2016 – Touch Bionics * 2017 – Medi Prosthetics * 2019 – College Park Industries * 2023 - Naked Prosthetics * 2024 - FIOR & GENTZ

Operations

Research and development

Össur operates five

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

(R&D) departments in four countries, employing 76 people. In-house R&D also partners with third parties, including universities and research companies. In 2007, R&D investment amounted to 6 percent of the company's total sales. The same year, 22 US patents were granted to Össur and 37 new applications filed. At the end of the year, Össur had 218 US, 26 European, and 103 granted international

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

in its portfolio, together with 119 US and 239 pending applications world.

Products

The company operates in three markets: bracing & support, compression therapy, and prosthetics including

bionics Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. The word ''bionic'', coined by Jack E. Steele in August 195 ...

technology. It manufactures a range of braces and support products for arms, legs, and

torso The torso or trunk is an anatomical terminology, anatomical term for the central part, or the core (anatomy), core, of the body (biology), body of many animals (including human beings), from which the head, neck, limb (anatomy), limbs, tail an ...

. Products include Unloader One, a brace that provides mechanical support to reduce the knee

pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sense, sensory and emotional experience associated with, or res ...

caused by

osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis is a type of degenerative joint disease that results from breakdown of articular cartilage, joint cartilage and underlying bone. A form of arthritis, it is believed to be the fourth leading cause of disability in the world, affect ...

. It's designed to separate bones when

ligament A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have liga ...

s and

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...

are damaged, and to prevent further damage to the

joint A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

. The firm also makes the CTi (formerly sold as the CTi2), a ligament brace for knees used for both rehabilitation and for injury prevention, as well as

cervical collar A cervical collar, also known as a neck brace, is a medical device used to support and immobilize a person's neck. It is also applied by emergency personnel to those who have had traumatic head or neck injuries, although they should not be rou ...

s. Össur entered the compression therapy segment with the acquisition of the French company Gibaud. Products include

bandage A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support for the movement of a part of the body. When used with a dressing, the dressing is applied directly on ...

tights Tights are a kind of cloth garment, most often sheathing the body from the waist to the toe tips with a tight fit, hence the name. They come in absolute opaque, opaque, sheer and fishnet styles — or a combination, such as the original concep ...

stocking Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transpar ...

knee highs Knee highs are hosiery that cover the feet and legs up to the knee. A fashion accessory for casual and classic cool or warm weather apparel. Typically worn by women in many societies, they are sometimes worn with modern semi-formal attire. Unl ...

and stump socks.

Prosthetics

Össur manufactures prosthetic limbs and joints, liners, sockets, locks and sleeves. Its products include Flex-Foot, a prosthetic foot made from

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

, a material used in the

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

industry for its strength and flexibility. The Flex-Foot Cheetah developed by medical engineer Van Phillips and worn by

Alan Oliveira Alan Fonteles Cardoso de Oliveira (born 21 August 1992) is a Paralympian athlete from Brazil competing mainly in category T44 sprint events. Oliveira is a double-below-the-knee amputee, classifying him in the Paralympic T43 class; athletes in t ...

Markus Rehm Markus Rehm (born 22 August 1988 in Göppingen, West Germany) is a German Paralympic athlete, and in the long jump has won four Paralympic, six world and five European titles. He began in sports at age 20 and became a long jump F44 world champio ...

, and other amputee athletes is a derivative of this product line. Össur also produces the Total Knee prosthetic, which possesses a "locking moment" which keeps the

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

from collapsing when it is in full extension, Mauch Knee, which has a hydraulic system for fluid and natural

gait Gait is the pattern of Motion (physics), movement of the limb (anatomy), limbs of animals, including Gait (human), humans, during Animal locomotion, locomotion over a solid substrate. Most animals use a variety of gaits, selecting gait based on s ...

, and Iceross

silicone In Organosilicon chemistry, organosilicon and polymer chemistry, a silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer composed of repeating units of siloxane (, where R = Organyl group, organic group). They are typically colorless oils or elastomer, rubber ...

prosthetic liners, which provide an interface between the

skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...

and the socket. The company's bionic technology platform is designed to restore

anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

function displaced by

amputation Amputation is the removal of a Limb (anatomy), limb or other body part by Physical trauma, trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as cancer, malign ...

by using intelligent structures in products that can respond in a human-like way. The division's products are Rheo Knee, a

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

swing and stance

system which utilizes

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

, Power Knee, which works as an integrated extension of its user, synchronizing motion with that of the sound leg using motor power, and Proprio Foot, an intelligent and motor-powered foot module. Össur has been developing a bionic limb controlled using implanted myoelectric sensors developed by the Alfred Mann Foundation. One patient has used the limb for over a year, and reports a positive experience. Össur says that the implantable control sensors will be a technology upgrade for its prosthetics in three to five years. In 2019, Össur and Alfred Mann Foundation signed new agreement to extend exploration of mind-controlled prosthetics.

Team Össur

Team Össur is a group of international para-athletes sponsored by Össur. Sponsees include Sarah Reinertsen,

Jody Cundy Jody Alan Cundy (born 14 October 1978) is a British cyclist and former swimmer from Wisbech, England. He has represented Great Britain at eight Summer Paralympics winning nine Gold, one Silver and three Bronze medals across swimming and cycling ...

and Rudy Garcia-Tolson.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
UK website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ossur Companies based in Reykjavík Manufacturing companies established in 1971 Prosthetic manufacturers Icelandic brands Medical technology companies of Iceland Companies listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen