The patient is a 13 year old female with bilateral end bearing knee
disarticulations and bilateral very short below elbows. She has worn
bilateral self suspending external powered prosthesis until about 12-18
months ago. The lower extremity prosthesis include polycentric joints and
non articulating dynamic feet and have been suspended using two single
strap silesian bandages fastened with velcro. For activities such as skiing
and soccer she wears reinforced thermoplastic liners only. These are self
suspending until they are fabricated with knees and feet. The goal at this
time is to eliminate the straps and provide self suspending lower extemity
prostheses. We have tried commercial silicone liners trimmed proximal to
reduce surface tension (her legs are conical in shape and she does not have
large condyles). She is able to don these with some difficulty but it takes
too much time (8-12min each compared to less than a 1min each for her
current prosthesis). She removes her prosthesis at school for gym and is
independent to don after class. She is not interested in any type of
prosthesis that requires creams or adaptive devices for donning or doffing
that she woud have to carry around. I look forward to any ideas or
suggestions related to socket design
James Adderson CP(c)
Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada
