Beyond step counts: Including wear time in prosthesis use assessment for lower-limb amputation.

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Prosthetics

Background:

• Effective prosthesis use requires understanding wear patterns and activity levels.
• Current methods for monitoring prosthesis use are limited in detail and duration.
• Assessing ambulatory activity and accommodation practices is crucial for patient rehabilitation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a new activity monitor for tracking prosthesis wear duration and activity.
• To analyze prosthesis users' wear and accommodation practices, including temporary doffing.
• To assess the intensity and nature of ambulatory activities performed with a prosthesis.

Main Methods:

• A portable limb-socket motion sensing system was employed.
• Monitoring included prosthesis doffs, walk bouts (≥5 steps), low locomotion (2-4 steps), stationary positions, and weight shifts.
• Investigated the relationship between doff time and active motion time, comparing durations of different activity intensities.

Main Results:

• Median prosthesis wear duration ranged from 12.8-18.8 hours daily across 14 participants.
• Most participants (11/14) doffed five or fewer times daily; three doffed 10+ times.
• Nine participants showed a positive correlation between daily doff duration and active motion duration.
• Activity patterns varied, with some users spending more time in weight shifts and others in walk bouts.

Conclusions:

• Monitoring prosthesis don time, temporary doffs, and differentiating activities like weight shifts from walks offers valuable clinical insights.
• Further long-term monitoring studies are recommended to evaluate the clinical utility of this data.
• The novel activity monitor shows potential for enhancing patient care and understanding prosthesis integration.