In the early 1990s, a team of British researchers set out to determine the rate of successful rehabilitation among individuals with lower-limb amputations of vascular etiologies. Led by a vascular surgeon named A.D. Houghton, MD, the effort first required the objective determination of what qualifies as a successful rehabilitation. The tool used to make this determination has since been termed the Houghton Scale. While it was initially published almost 25 years ago, recent work suggests that Houghton et al.’s assumptions were reasonable and accurate, and may well have implications in the modern effort to quantify functional outcomes among people with lower-limb amputations.
