Stumbles and Falls in Transfemoral Amputees Using Advanced Prosthetic Knees
Principal Investigator: Kenton R. Kaufman, Ph.D.
Project Coordinator: Barbara Iverson — iverson.barbara@mayo.edu
Falls are a significant problem for people with transfemoral amputees, who experience a fall rate which is normally double that of elderly individuals. Hence, safe knee function is of critical importance for transfemoral amputees. The type of prosthetic knee joint can influence the frequency of falls. Amputees who receive a current state of the art microprocessor-controlled knee joint experience a lower rate of falls. This study will conduct an objective evaluation of several mechanical and microprocessor-controlled knee joints in critical situations that can pose a risk of falling for the amputee. Experienced amputees will be exposed to the following situations: walking on uneven ground, abrupt stopping of long duration, abrupt side stepping, and swing-phase extension disturbed. During the test, the amputees will wear a safety harness for protection. The performance will be measured with the motion analysis technology. The load in the safety harness, the knee angular velocity, as well as hip and knee kinetics will be used for assessing safe function of the prosthetic knee joints. We hypothesize that microprocessor-controlled knees will provide greater security compared to mechanical knee joints.