Researchers investigated the extent to which fall training is provided to people with lower-limb loss and what factors may be obstacles to its wider adoption. They found that more than two-thirds of the respondents had not received fall training, and that people who had physical therapy as part of their post-amputation rehabilitation regimen were 3.7 times more likely to also have had fall training.
The research team analyzed 166 responses to an online questionnaire targeting people with lower-limb loss. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the availability of fall training, and a logistic regression was performed to investigate variables that predict whether an individual received fall training or not.
“Our data suggest that the potential benefits of providing fall training to people with lower-limb loss are not being fully realized. Interdisciplinary collaboration between prosthetists and therapists can help expand access to fall training interventions to better prepare patients for the likely event of an accidental fall,” the study’s authors concluded.
The study, “Preparing for the worst or hoping for the best? The state of fall training in prosthesis users,” was published in the Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics.
