Since the rehabilitation process is unique for each lower-limb prosthesis user, a group of researchers conducted a study about how inpatient exercise rehabilitation affected prosthetic mobility, function, and ambulation.
In the explorative prospective nonrandomized intervention study, 20 experienced (EXP-INT) and 18 new (NEW-INT) prosthesis users completed a four-week rehabilitation intervention. A control group of 19 experienced prosthesis users received no intervention. Tests were performed at baseline (pretest) and after four weeks (posttest). A step-monitoring device recorded ambulatory activity.
For the primary outcome measure, the Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility, the between-group analysis revealed significant differences. Within-group Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility T-scores improved by 8.1 percent for the EXP-INT prosthesis users and 15.1 percent for NEW-INT prosthesis users. Significant between-group differences were observed for the Amputee Mobility Predictor, L Test, Two-Minute Walk test, and Ten-Meter Walk Test.
Within-group analysis demonstrated nonsignificant changes for the EXP-INT prosthesis users except for Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility, while the NEW-INT prosthesis users improved by 24.1 percent, 34 percent, 46.5 percent, and 31 percent, respectively.
The number of steps during the last seven days of rehabilitation showed significant differences between the groups, according to the study. The NEW-INT prosthesis users improved by 138 percent compared with the first seven days of rehabilitation, while the EXP-INT prosthesis users had no significant changes.
The researchers concluded that a four-week rehabilitation intervention substantially increased prosthetic mobility, function, and ambulation activity for new prosthetic users but less so for experienced users. The results of the NEW-INT prosthesis users at discharge signify a considerable functional improvement, the study found.
