Residual limb health is an important aspect of amputation care and can affect and can affect user satisfaction with prosthetic devices. While the Prosthetic Evaluation Questionnaire (PEQ) has a scale to measure residual limb health in people with lower-limb amputations, a research team set out to examine it’s usability for people with upper-limb amputations. The researchers concluded that the modified scale can be recommended for use with people with wrist disarticulations, transradial amputations, elbow disarticulations, and transhumeral amputations.
The researchers modified the PEQ item response scale to a Likert scale, refined the item set and instructions in cognitive and pilot testing, and characterized the prevalence of residual limb issues. They then conducted a telephone survey of 392 prosthesis users with upper-limb amputations, with a 40-person retest sample.
The collected data indicated that sweating and prosthesis odor were prevalent at 90.7 percent and 72.5 percent, respectively. Blisters/sores (12.1 percent) and ingrown hairs (7.7 percent) were the least prevalent problems. The researchers found that the modified scale had excellent structural validity, fair person reliability, very good test-retest reliability, and no floor or ceiling effects.
The study, “Measuring residual limb health in persons with upper limb amputation: Modifications of the Prosthetic Evaluation Questionnaire residual limb health scale,” was published in Prosthetics and Orthotics International.
