As an amputee physiotherapist, I am often asked for advice by recent lower limb amputees on appropriate footwear. One of the most common questions is: What is the best type of shoe to wear on my prosthetic foot? This is a very important question for several reasons. Firstly, the most important issue for an amputee [...]
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining a very inspiring bunch of people who just happened to be amputees at the second annual Teen Ranch Amputee Camp. The idea of the camp is to provide contacts, information, support, confidence and friendship to teenage amputees and their families. One of the ways in [...]
For above knee amputees, walking on sloping ground can be challenging. This is the case when you are walking either up or down a slope. Everybody remarks how much harder it is to walk up the slope and I am afraid physics is to blame. (You may have begun to notice that I think physics [...]
As a below knee amputee, you will not often have difficulty in going up and down stairs once you have been taught by your physiotherapist. You will notice however, that when walking down slopes your knee may feel unstable, like it is going to collapse forward. This is more noticeable on steep slopes and when [...]
Successfully using your leg prosthesis is a confidence game. Very often a fall or misadventure when learning to use your leg prosthesis will greatly and adversely affect your ability to “trust” your prosthesis and learn to incorporate it’s use with confidence in your daily life. Whenever I lecture to physiotherapists who train amputees in the [...]
