The advantages of immediate postsurgical fitting in the management of upperextremity amputees have been pointed out by Sarmiento et al. (4) and Loughlin et al. (3). These advantages, which are similar to those for the lower-extremity amputee, are: reduction of postoperative pain, control of postsurgical edema, early use of a prosthetic appliance, early psychological adjustment to the disability...

PURPOSE To develop a valid measure of lower limb amputee mobility suitable for routine clinical use, including monitoring change. METHODS The Special Interest Group in Amputee Medicine (SIGAM) described a single-item scale comprising six clinical grades (A-F) of amputee mobility. A self-report questionnaire was developed and algorithm designed to facilitate grade assignment. Reproducibility o...

A qualitative and quantitative assessment was conducted regarding falls sustained by in-patients receiving rehabilitation therapy following major lower limb amputation at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. During the nine-month assessment period, 18 of 58 patients in the amputee unit experienced a fall, of which 17% resulted in a moderate injury. The majority of falls occurred during patient...

The variation of the contraction force associated with phantom motion used for actuation a bionic upper-limb prosthesis represents scenario encountered regularly by amputees, while prior research appears to not have been able succinctly address this problem. In study, an extended control system is proposed which recognise gesture intent motions alongside prediction as part advanced pattern reco...

Compensatory mechanisms in below-knee amputee gait are necessary due to the functional loss of the ankle muscles, especially at higher walking speeds when the mechanical energetic demands of walking are greater. The objective of this study was to examine amputee anterior/posterior (A/P) ground reaction force (GRF) impulses and joint kinetics across a wide range of steady-state walking speeds to...

The goal of this study was to identify changes in muscle activity in below-knee amputees in response to increasing steady-state walking speeds. Bilateral electromyographic (EMG) data were collected from 14 amputee and 10 non-amputee subjects during four overground walking speeds from eight intact leg and five residual leg muscles. Using integrated EMG measures, we tested three hypotheses for ea...

The recent competitive successes of a bilateral, transtibial amputee sprint runner who races with modern running prostheses has triggered an international controversy regarding the relative function provided by his artificial limbs. Here, we conducted three tests of functional similarity between this amputee sprinter and competitive male runners with intact limbs: the metabolic cost of running,...

Falls are a common and potentially dangerous event, especially in amputees. In this study, we compared the mechanisms of balance recovery of 17 unilateral transtibial amputees and 17 matched able-bodied controls after being released from a forward-inclined orientation of 10%. Kinematic analysis revealed statistically significant differences in response time and knee flexion at heel-strike betwe...

Most prosthetic feet are designed to improve amputee gait by storing and releasing elastic energy during stance. However, how prosthetic foot stiffness influences muscle and foot function is unclear. Identifying these relationships would provide quantitative rationale for prosthetic foot prescription that may lead to improved amputee gait. The purpose of this study was to identify the influence...