Vacuum Suspension Shown to Reduce Recurrent Fall Risk in Transtibial Amputees

In a study conducted to evaluate the effect of vacuum-assisted socket suspension (VASS) on community-based falls by users of lower-limb prostheses, researchers found that people who had transtibial amputations and used VASS were at reduced risk for recurrent falls. VASS had no effect on the risk of falls among people with transfemoral amputations.

The purpose of the study was to quantify the effect of socket suspension on the risk of falling by comparing prospectively tracked falls between a group of participants who used VASS and a group who did not. Fifteen current users of VASS and 12 non-VASS users received an email every two weeks for one year with a link to an online survey that asked whether they fell (i.e., unintentionally came to rest on a lower surface) or stumbled (i.e., lost balance but did not fall) in the prior two weeks. The results indicated that while the use of VASS did not affect the rate of falling (i.e., falls per person year) for people with transtibial amputations or those with transfemoral amputations, the absolute risk of having multiple falls was reduced by nearly 75 percent in the former.

The researchers suggest that further work is warranted to demonstrate the persistence of these effects in larger, more controlled samples.