title: Energy consumption during prosthetic walking and physical fitness in older hip disarticulation amputees.
abstract: The objective of this study is to investigate energy consumption during prosthetic walking and physical fitness in older hip disarticulation (HD) subjects and to examine the ambulatory outcome in a community setting. The subjects were seven unilateral HD amputees with an average age of 67.7 +/- 3.9 yr. Energy consumption was measured during prosthetic walking at each individual's comfortable walking speed (CWS) by means of a portable telemetric system. An incremental exercise test was performed to evaluate fitness. The average CWS for the subjects was 30.5 +/- 9.6 m/min. The average oxygen consumption rate at each CWS was 18.3 +/- 2.4 mL/kg/min, and the average oxygen cost was 0.639 +/- 0.165 mL/kg/m. The maximum oxygen uptake during exercise as a proportion of predicted maximum oxygen uptake (%VO2max) for the subjects was 57.2 +/- 11.1. Five subjects continued prosthetic walking on return to their communities. Two subjects abandoned prosthetic walking. The %VO2max for the five who continued prosthetic walking after discharge ranged from 55.8 to 72.0. The subjects who abandoned prosthetic walking had lower %VO2max of 43.3 and 44.2. Energy consumption during prosthetic walking at CWS seemed not to be excessive. Older HD amputees in good physical condition were able to successfully walk with a prosthesis in a community setting. A lower level of fitness appears to make community walking prohibitive.
authors: Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine in Hyogo Rehabilitation Center, Kobe, Japan. t-chin@pure.ne.jp
authors: Takaaki
authors: T
authors: Chin
authors: Ryosuke
authors: R
authors: Kuroda
authors: Toshihiro
authors: T
authors: Akisue
authors: Tetsuhiro
authors: T
authors: Iguchi
authors: Masahiro
authors: M
authors: Kurosaka
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000674:Amputees / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001186:Artificial Limbs; D004188:Disarticulation; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D013686:Telemetry; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*