How To Become An Orthotist: What It Is and Career Path

What is an orthotist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an orthotist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.11 an hour? That's $52,238 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 17% and produce 1,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreOrthotistUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,238

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.8

Growth Rate 17%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 7.15%

Black or African American 8.91%

Hispanic or Latino 18.19%

Unknown 5.21%

White 59.84%

Gender

female 25.00%

male 75.00%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress Level

8.8

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.2

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.9

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become an orthotist

Explore orthotist education requirements

Most common orthotist degrees

Bachelor's

50.0 %

Associate

17.9 %

Master's

16.1 %

Start to develop specific orthotist skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	51.43%
Orthotics	14.36%
Prosthetics	7.69%
Patients Needs	7.05%
Treatment Plan	6.44%

Complete relevant orthotist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New orthotists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an orthotist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real orthotist resumes.

Research orthotist duties and responsibilities

Provide detail patient management to patient of proper use of custom and/or off-the-shelf orthotics as were prescribe.
Designate as department's long-term EMR 'super user' for inpatient and outpatient services.
Research products to ensure cost efficient materials are used for the most cost effective products build and make for patients.
Experience with microprocessor knees, body power and myoelectric upper extremity prosthetics.

Prepare your orthotist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your orthotist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an orthotist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Orthotist Resume templates

Build a professional Orthotist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Orthotist resume.