Researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey to understand pregnancy-related experiences, mobility challenges, and prosthetic outcomes for women with lower-limb loss and limb difference, with the aim of advancing evidence-based care and prognostic information.
The research team conducted a national, self-administered online survey where the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Thematic analyses were performed on open-ended questions. Participants were Canadian women with one or more types of lower-limb deficiencies and who had been pregnant within the last five years. The women were recruited via social media, O&P clinics, and word of mouth.
Sixteen women from four Canadian provinces completed the survey describing 31 pregnancies. Nine of the women had acquired lower-limb loss and/or limb difference and seven had congenital lower-limb loss and/or limb difference. All but one respondent had unilateral lower-limb loss and/or limb difference. The most common level was transfemoral amputation at 38 percent. All the women wore a prosthesis daily and were K-4 ambulators.
Five (31 percent) had to decrease or stop prosthesis use during pregnancy, and six (25 percent) required a gait aid or wheelchair. The most common pregnancy-associated complications were low back pain (64 percent), changes to limb size/prosthesis comfort (64 percent), reduced balance (44 percent), falls (38 percent), and postpartum depression (25 percent).
The cross-sectional survey, “Pregnancy after amputation: A national survey of prosthetic and mobility outcomes in women with lived experience,” was published in Prosthetics and Orthotics International.
