A study measuring residual limb volume fluctuations in people with transfemoral amputations found volume increases following prosthesis removal and physical activity, but no differences between measures collected in the morning and in the afternoon.
Twenty-four people participated in the experiments, which included a 3D optical scanner to improve precision and acceptability. The first test session measured residual limb volume at seven time-points, with ten-minute intervals, after prosthesis doffing to evaluate the time required for volume stabilization after prosthesis removal.
In subsequent sessions, the research team captured 16 residual limb scans in a day for each participant to evaluate volume fluctuations due to prosthesis removal and physical activity two times per day (morning and afternoon). The measurements were repeated on three different days, a week apart from each other, for a total of 48 scans for each participant.
The authors concluded that volume fluctuations after prosthesis doffing showed a two-term decay exponential trend, with the highest variation in the initial ten minutes, and an average stabilization time of 30 minutes.
The study, “Residual limb volume fluctuations in transfemoral amputees,” was published in Scientific Reports.
