Transition to an articulating knee prosthesis in pediatric amputees

The purpose of this study is to see if gait deviations resulting from the lack of knee flexion in the solid-knee prosthesis are reduced when a young amputee is fitted with an articulating prosthesis at an earlier age than what has been the norm. Three-dimensional kinematic data were collected from seven pediatric amputees (age ranging from 1 year, 5 months to 6 y ears, 1 month) at three time points: 1) initially, with their nonarticulated prostheses; 2) after gait training with their new, articulated prostheses; and 3) after approximately 1 year of use with the new prostheses. Results show that the gait strategy for advancing the amputated limb changed from initial visit to follow-up. The children no longer used a circumducted gait pattern, and differences in hip range of motion between limbs were decreased. All children successfully transitioned to articulating-knee prostheses and now walk with more normalized gait patterns.