A team of researchers, including Robert Gailey, PhD, PT, surgeon Munjed Al Muderis, and Paul F. Pasquina, MD, completed a study to determine the differences in mobility and balance using performance-based outcome measures and patient-reported outcome measures in people with transfemoral amputations fitted with bone-anchored prosthesis versus socket prostheses.
The researchers concluded that people with transfemoral amputations who use a bone-anchored prosthesis can demonstrate similar temporal spatial gait parameters and prosthetic mobility, as well as self-perceived balance confidence and prosthetic mobility as socket prosthesis users. “Therefore, suggesting that the osseointegration reconstruction surgical procedure provides an alternative option for a specific population with [transfemoral amputations] who cannot wear nor have limitations with a [socket prosthesis],” the authors wrote.
Two groups of people with transfemoral amputations were recruited. One group’s members used bone-anchored prostheses (N = 11; mean age ± standard deviation, 44 ± 14.9 years; mean residual limb length as a percentage of the intact femur, 68 percent ± 15.9). The other group used socket prostheses (N = 11; mean age ± standard deviation, 49.6 ± 16.0 years; mean residual limb length as a percentage of the intact femur, 81 percent ± 13.9), and completed the Ten-meter Walk Test (10MWT), Component Timed Up and Go (TUG), Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-M)12-item, and the Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale.
The results indicated no statistically significant differences between the groups in temporal spatial gait parameters and prosthetic mobility as measured by the 10MWT and Component TUG, but large effect sizes were found for several variables, according to the study. ABC Scale and PLUS-M scores were not statistically different between the groups, yet large effect sizes were found for both variables.
To further determine the differences between the prosthetic options, the authors suggest future research with a larger sample and other outcome measures of prosthetic mobility and balance.
The study, “Comparison of prosthetic mobility and balance in transfemoral amputees with bone-anchored prosthesis vs. socket prosthesis,“ was published in Prosthetics and Orthotics International.
