Establishment of consistent gait after fitting of new components

Since the time required for a person with an amputation to become familiarized with a prosthesis after a change of a component is not known, the gait of a single subject, a man with a through-knee amputation, was examined with two different knee mechanisms interchanged in the same prosthesis. Several parameters were analyzed to determine when the subject's gait had stabilized sufficiently to permit confident assessment of the appropriateness of the knee mechanisms. At least one week of functional walking was required before a clinical decision could be made about the suitability of the component. For the purposes of research, it was deemed preferable to try knee mechanisms for at least 3 weeks to be sure pertinent gait parameters stabilized.