|
Amputation Facts
Our goal here will be to help you become an informed consumer. Estimates state
that there are three million amputees in the United States, 300,000 in Canada. Males comprise 77% of the estimated
total, 50% between the age of 21 and 65. Lower extremity amputations account for 90%. The primary cause of amputation
in the U.S. is vascular and circulatory disease, with diabetes being the cause of half of those amputations. People
over the age of 50 make up 80% of those amputations.
By the time you are fitted with your first prosthesis (artificial
limb) you will probably have many unanswered questions regarding prosthetic
devices and prosthetic rehabilitation. Unfortunately, many hospitals and their personnel are ill-equipped to provide
this information. The hospital staff's primary goal is the surgical procedure of amputation and your recovery from
it.
Your physician may recommend that you undergo physical therapy treatments as a
preliminary step to being fitted with a prosthetic device. Some surgeons will have the patient fitted with an immediate
post-surgical prosthesis. This device may consist of a rigid plaster-of-paris dressing to which a pylon and foot
are attached. The function of an immediate post-surgical prosthesis is to allow you to stand, ambulate (walk), control edema (swelling) and help reduce the risk of flexion-contractures. Flexion contractures are usually caused
because a joint, such as your knee, is left in a flexed (bent) position for a period of time, causing the muscles to tighten and shrink which makes it
difficult to be properly fit with a prosthetic device. To prevent flexion-contractures, you need to exercise your
residual limb (stump) either on
your own or under the direction of a physical therapist. Many surgeons do not use or recommend the use of the post-surgical
prosthesis, either way it is important that by the time you visit the prosthetist, your residual limb is ready
for casting which will be an initial step in the fitting process.
|
