Loading Applied on Trans-Femoral Osseointegrated Prostheses

Abstract

A lower-limb prosthesis is conventionally attached to the residual limb by a socket and often some suspension devices. Although this approach has been used for over 50 years, previous studies have pointed the phenomena that local limb pain and soft tissue breakdown are common. High pressure applied from the prosthetic socket onto the residual limb is the major cause of the problems.
Researchers are developing a surgical approach using osseointegration for directly connecting a prosthesis into the femur using a fixation system with a titanium implant. The absence of a prosthetic socket can alleviate the skin problems. This procedure increased significantly the quality of life of amputees. However, the current rehabilitation is long and some occasional mechanical failures of the fixation following a fall were reported. Understanding the load applied on the osseointegrated fixation is one important step to solve these problems.
This article presents the load applied on the fixation of twelve trans-femoral amputees during level walking.