Association of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender to Disparities in Functional Recovery and Social Health After Major Lower Limb Amputation: A Cross-sectional Pilot Study.

Objective: To assess if evidence of disparities exists in functional recovery and social health post-lower limb amputation.

Design: Race-ethnicity, gender, and income-based group comparisons of functioning and social health in a convenience sample of lower limb prosthetic users.

Setting: Prosthetic clinics in 4 states.

Disparities in functional recovery after dysvascular lower limb amputation are associated with employment status and self-efficacy.

Purpose: Employment status is considered a determinant of health, yet returning to work is frequently a challenge after lower limb amputation. No studies have documented if working after lower limb amputation is associated with functional recovery. The study's purpose was to examine the influence of full-time employment on functioning after lower limb amputation.

Temporal-Spatial Values During a 180° Step Turn in People with Unilateral Lower Limb Amputation.

Background: Daily ambulation with a prosthesis often involves turning to negotiate within the home and community environments, however how people with lower limb loss perform turns is infrequently studied. Administering a common clinical outcome measure to capture turn performance data provides a convenient means of assessing this ubiquitous activity.

Research Question: What temporal-spatial parameters are exhibited by people with unilateral lower limb amputation while performing a 180˚ turn task?

Methods: Forty community-ambulating subjects with unilateral lower limb amputation (20 transtibial amputees, 20 transfemoral amputees) performed the Component Timed-Up-and-Go (cTUG) test turning once in each direction, both toward the intact and toward the prosthetic limb.

The Component Timed-Up-and-Go test: the utility and psychometric properties of using a mobile application to determine prosthetic mobility in people with lower limb amputations.

Objective: Using a custom mobile application to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Component Timed-Up-and-Go test to assess prosthetic mobility in people with lower limb amputation.

Design: Cross-sectional design.

Setting: National conference for people with limb loss.