The Effect of Segmental Weight of Prosthesis on Hemodynamic Responses of Lower Extremity Ampueetes

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of segmental weight of prosthetic on hemodynamic Reponses of lower extremity amputees.Therteen patients with unilateral transtibial, transfemoral and syme's amputation who were refered to Prosthetics and Orthotics Unit of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Department, Hacettepe University were included to the study. The difference between the lightest and the heaviest prosthetesis used as the weight and it was 250 gr. All the patients completed the measurements first without weight and then with 250 gr weight on the ankle joint. The blood pressure and pulse rate of the patients were recorded before and after Six Minute Walk Test (6MWT) and 10 Steps up and down stairs test. Paired T- test was used to analyze the comparison of before and after test datas. Mean age of the patients were 44±15.84 years (min: 18-max: 65 years), 9 of patients were man and 4 were woman. Paired-samples T tests were used for before and after analysis of the datas. No significant difference was found in blood pressure before and after (6MWT) and 10 Steps up and down test with weight and without weight (p>0.05). Although pulse rate increased significantly, it showed statistical significance (p<0.05). Our results indicated that segmental weight of prosthesis does not have significant effect on the blood pressur but have effect on the heart rate of lower extremity ampueetes in this study. In order to generalize our results to lower limb amputees, more patients are needed to be included.