title: Load-relief of walking AIDS on osseointegrated fixation: instrument for evidence-based practice.
abstract: Clinicians are currently in demand of tools enabling individual assessment during their daily practice of load-relief of walking aids. The first aim of this article is to describe a portable kinetic system that could be used to measure directly the true load applied on the residuum during assisted walking. The second aim is to present the information that can be derived from the raw loading data. The third aim is to provide an example for a participant. One active transfemoral amputee fitted with an osseointegrated fixation was asked to walk in straight level line with no aid, one stick, one and two elbow crutches on a 20 m walkway. The load-relief was measured using a six-channel transducer and recorded using a data logger. The overall loading was decreased by 2% using one stick, 5% using one crutch and by 10% using two crutches. This study presents a method that can be used by clinicians facing the challenge of prescribing and assessing walking aids to restore the locomotion of lower limb amputees in the framework of an evidence-based practice.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering Systems and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frossard
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hagberg
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haggstrom
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Branemark
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000671:Amputation, Surgical; D001186:Artificial Limbs; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002183:Canes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003446:Crutches / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004867:Equipment Design; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D007866:Leg / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*