According to a new study, more than 52 percent of people who use a lower-limb prosthesis fall once every year, but few studies have identified clinical outcome measures that could help screen for fall risk. This led researchers to examine the relationship between gait asymmetries and falls. They found that the Four Square Step Test cutoff time may be useful to distinguish fallers from nonfallers.
Twenty-two unilateral prosthesis users (age 57.6 ± 14.2 years; 15 transtibial, seven transfemoral) were recruited from private practice and the Amputee Coalition National Conference. Participants completed a 12-month retrospective fall history and seven clinical outcome measures, as well as level-ground walking at self-selected pace with wearable sensors that collected kinematic (sagittal plane: hip, knee, and ankle range of motion) and kinetic (peak braking and propulsion ground reaction force) data.
The researchers concluded that no gait asymmetry parameters significantly distinguished 12-month retrospective fallers from nonfallers and no parameters significantly distinguished fallers from nonfallers by level of prosthesis use. However, the Four Square Step Test did significantly distinguish fallers from nonfallers, irrespective of level of amputation.
The study, “Distinguishing retrospective fallers from nonfallers in people who use a unilateral lower-limb prosthesis,” was published in Prosthetics and Orthotics International.
