The assessment and description of amputee activity

The activity achieved by a lower limb amputee is usually assessed by clinical judgement or physiological tests. The former is seldom absolute, being affected by factors such as patient age, and is expressed in categories which may not be equivalent to those used by other observers. Physiological testing provides a measure of the patient's capabilities, but not his activity which may be dependent more on social requirements than physical state. This paper describes a method of questioning the patient using multiple choice answers attracting positive and negative scores, which summate to provide an overall "Activity Score". The procedure takes about 15 minutes and uses the minimum of observer judgement. The technique has been developed over six years and 2400 patients have been investigated. Validation procedures are described, including the use of step counters which show a substantially linear relationship between annual step rate and "Activity Score".