N(P)LD [New (Prosthetic) Leg Day

Rocker · November 2014

Some of you will be aware that I am an amputee. Left leg through knee amputation in 1979 [the knee and lower is ‘gone’, the femur is intact]. For nearly 25 years my prosthetic leg was similar to those supplied to amputees in World War 1. A leather socket and 75 mm wide strap around my waist. Pretty much zero comfort but at least I could walk. A little.

Prosthetic legs don’t last forever – typical life is 3 to 4 years – and I asked the limb fitter if the modern limbs would be suitable for me. By modern I mean laminate socket and built using modular parts. The limb is ‘held on’ by an ingeniously simple suction system. The modular design makes the limb almost infinitely adjustable. So one was built for me. The lack of a waist strap showed how much support the strap was giving my back all those years. Or to put it more accurately, how weak the muscles in my back, where the strap was, had become. Severe back pain was the result, even today I suffer back pain but not as severe as during the first couple of years after the elimination of the strap.

Prosthetic limbs are all bespoke, there is no one size fits all. The socket is the interface between the wearer and the limb, the fitting of the socket determines how comfortable the limb is to wear. A silicon liner is worn between the stump and the socket. Silicon liners typically last about 1 year.

Prosthetic limbs are costly, a complete limb works our around €8K give or take, a new socket about €5K and the silicon liners are around €850 each. An amputee needs 2 limbs and at least 2 silicon liners to cover for breakages.

I collected my new limb last Thursday. This is fitted with an Otto Blok “Torsion Adaptor” that allows me to turn a few degrees either way without the foot changing position or moving. It also has a short up/down movement which softens the blow from the ground when walking. I was told that this limb would take up to a week to get used to as it feels less steady than the rigid system I was familiar with.

Every new or reconditioned limb [new socket etc.] takes a few hours/days for the muscles/brain to learn how to use it. The Torsion Adaptor added to this difficulty but over the weekend I began to get the hang of it. Now my old rigid limb feels extremely rigid and inflexible. I am told that the Torsion Adaptor will help when I play golf. That would be a bonus as I need all the help I can get playing golf!

Over the years I have seen wonderful looking bionic limbs featured on TV programs such as “Tomorrows World”. Most of these are merely design concepts – hardly any end up being actually used in the real world. But the last 20 years has seen considerable increases in understanding of how people walk. This understanding is feeding into the thinking of the prosthetic limb component manufacturers. The next 25 to 50 years ought to see limbs taking major steps forward [pardon the pun] as technology is used more and more. Similar to how mobile phones, iDevices and cars use computer technology/improved batteries etc..

I hope so anyway.

not_the_dj · November 2014

Nice one. Happy N(P)LD

EricTheWeary · November 2014

I have a mate who is a guitarist and has a prosthetic leg so I've been aware of some of his issues. Probably not his greatest issue but he could never work a wah!
Happy NPLD