Hanging stump prosthesis without socket for bad above-knee stumps

This prosthesis was developed in the Department of Rehabilitation, Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi, India to deal with the problems of badly formed or difficult above-knee stumps. Bad stumps are still a challenge for the rehabilitation team due to the difficulty in fitting the prosthesis which is the first stage in the total rehabilitation of the amputee. It is the author's observation that those cases with bad above-knee stumps who are fitted with a prosthesis with some type of socket keep attending the prosthetic section complaining of pain. The pain in most of these cases is due to local contact of the stump surface with the socket. None of the prostheses already available can deal with this problem effectively. The hanging stump prosthesis without socket has been developed on the principle of no socket, no contact, no pain. This prosthesis has no socket but a metallic ring consisting of a well padded, well moulded ischial seat. This metallic ring is attached to the hollowed out wooden thigh piece by medial and lateral vertical bars. The outer side of the metallic ring is attached to the pelvic belt through the hip joint. The rest of the prosthesis is similar to the standard above-knee prosthesis.