Exploring the correlation between gait speed and balance in limb prosthesis users: A pilot study

Increasing balance and stability, along with efficient locomotion, is a high-priority goal of physical rehabilitation after limb loss in order to facilitate effective participation in society. Research in the general population suggests that the ability to walk fast is correlated to good performance in balance tests. However, it is unclear if and how prosthesis use influences this correlation.

Our small-sample pilot study aimed to explore whether the general relationship between walking speed and balance holds true for people with limb loss whose physical capabilities are inevitably influenced by their prosthetic devices.

Participants with any level of limb loss were recruited and asked to perform the Ten-Meter Walk Test and Narrowing Beam Walking Test. Scores in both tests were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.

The initial sample of eleven participants was reduced to eight (5 males, 3 females, mean age 52 years, mean height 171 cm, mean weight 68 kg, mean BMI 23, limb loss levels ranging from partial hand to trans-femoral amputation) after removing outliers. The mean Ten-Meter Walking velocity was 1.16 m/s, and the mean Narrowing Beam Test score was 11.38. The results indicate a medium to strong correlation between fast walking speed and high balance scores (ρ = 0.681, p = 0.063) when outliers are excluded.

These findings are consistent with prior research conducted in other populations. However, outliers in our data suggest that this relationship is not universal across all individuals with limb loss. Possible confounding variables include the activity level and the respectively prescribed prosthetic technology. Our finding, that gait speed and balance scores should be evaluated separately to tailor rehabilitation strategies effectively, is preliminary and needs to be confirmed in a larger study.