Many patients referred for orthotic or prosthetic services will have associated neurologic deficits. These must be recognized by the practitioner prior to the design and fitting of an orthosis or prosthesis to avoid costly and potentially harmful errors in design and application. Commonly seen deficits are loss of protective sensation, impaired proprioception and spasticity. Any one of these may be associated with fixed soft tissue or bony deformity. A working knowledge of sensory and motor examination, combined with careful history-taking, will greatly enhance the clinical skills of the prosthetistlorthotist in this challenging aspect of practice.