A study of the walking abilities of people fitted with transfemoral bone-anchored prostheses found that bone-anchored and socket-suspended prostheses restored equally well the gait parameters at a self-selected speed.
The study included two control groups (eight able-bodied participants and nine participants fitted with transfemoral socket-suspended prostheses arm). The intervention group included nine participants fitted with transfemoral bone-anchored prostheses.
This study was designed as a two-center retrospective cross-sectional comparative study at prosthetics centers in Italy and Sweden. All participants performed straight-level walking at a self-selected comfortable speed while researchers collected data on 14 gait parameters of the prosthetic limb for socket-suspended and bone-anchored prostheses and single limb for the able-bodied group. Comparisons were performed for two spatiotemporal, three spatial, and nine temporal gait parameters.
The cadence and speed of walking were 107 ± 6 steps/min and 1.23 ± 0.19m/s for the able-bodied participants group; 88 ± 7 steps/min and 0.87 ± 0.17m/s for the socket-suspended prosthesis arm; and 96 ± 6 steps/min and 1.03 ± 0.17m/s for the bone-anchored prosthesis participants.
The able-bodied participants and those with bone-anchored prostheses arms were comparable in age, height, and body mass index as well as cadence and speed of walking, but the able-bodied participant group showed a swing phase 31 percent shorter.
The bone-anchored and socket-suspended prosthesis groups were comparable for age, height, mass, and body mass index as well as cadence and speed of walking, but the bone-anchored prosthesis group showed a step width and duration of double support in seconds 65 percent and 41 percent shorter, respectively.
The open-access study, “Walking ability of individuals fitted with transfemoral bone-anchored prostheses: A comparative study of gait parameters,” was published in Clinical Rehabilitation.
