A Prosthetic Foot Test-Drive Strategy for Improving Stability in Veterans With Leg Amputations

Using a prosthesis allows many who experience lower leg amputation to regain functional abilities, but walking may be more difficult, and people with limb loss suffer from a wide range of mobility limitations including balance and stability impairments. Selecting an optimal prosthetic foot is an important aspect of maximizing mobility, limiting falls, and the achievement of functional goals for people with lower leg amputation (LLA), however there is limited evidence to guide this process. The current prosthetic prescription process relies on clinician experience and typically does not allow people with a leg amputation to easily try out different prosthetic feet. The investigators have developed a customizable robotic prosthetic foot that can mimic the mechanical properties of commercially available prosthetic feet in the coronal and sagittal planes without physically changing feet. This multiaxial 'prosthetic foot emulator' (PFE) can be attached to the prescribed prosthetic socket and worn like a regular prosthetic foot within the laboratory or clinic, providing people with LLA the opportunity to quickly 'test-drive' many prosthetic foot designs within a single test session. Trial and error with actual commercial prosthetic feet can be inefficient given the time and expense required for the purchasing and fitting of prosthetic feet. The PFE could provide a means to explore a range of feet over uneven, incline, and cross sloped surfaces in a very short period of time. This study aims to optimize stability and balance-related outcomes, to minimize falls, and to optimize vocational and avocational participation and functional quality for life for Veterans with LLA. This study will determine the effects of coronal and sagittal plane commercially-available prosthetic foot stiffness on stability and falls related outcomes and will evaluate the use of a test-drive strategy using a PFE to predict stability and balance-confidence outcomes with corresponding commercial prosthetic feet. Results from this study may contribute to increased understanding of how a patient-centered strategy for optimizing prosthetic prescription can improve patient satisfaction, functional outcomes, and balance confidence for Veterans and others with LLA.