Hello Karen,
This sounds great - have you quantified the amount or difference in weight
when standing with both feet on unsteady surface such as two bathroom
scales - does that have an effect on the amount that is placed through the
less effective limb?
Cheers,
Anna.
Anna Lee
Principal,
Work Ready Industrial Athlete Centre
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Newtown NSW 2042
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Phone: (612) 95197436
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----- Original Message -----
From: "McLaren, L" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, 7 January 2001 4:38
Subject: Re: Partial weight bearing
> Partial wt bearing in my area of interest (amputee rehabilitation) is a
> specific clinical tool, and I use two bathroom scales to quantify exactly
> how much wt an amuptee is taking through their residual limb, as a
> percentage of total body weight. Often amputees have had orthopaedic
trauma
> in addition to their amputation.
>
> When amputees are first given their prosthesis in the initial fitting apt.
> the prosthetist oftens asks them 'how much wt are you taking through the
> artificial limb'. The client's response varies, but is often as much as
> 50%; given that this is often the first time they have stood up and
'walked'
> in the parallel bars, I often wondered how accurate the patient was, and
how
> precise the prosthetist was in 'guessing' with their eyes, how much wt was
> being taken through the artificial limb. And so started my attempts at
> quantifying this and the most practical tool was two bathroom scales.
>
> I now measure on a biweekly basis how the numbers change, the wt bearing
> tolerance on the prosthetic side as a percentage of total body weight.
This
> number is useful to the team, when it suddently changes for no apparent
> reason; something is going on within the socket-residual limb interface
that
> causes pain to prevent wt bearing.
>
> Can patient's wt bear to a specific percentage of body wt? Absolutely,
when
> they are given feedback that quantifies the amount of wt. For an amputee
> they learn that the amount of pressure they feel coming up through their
> prosthesis onto their residual limb, and the position of their body
relative
> to that constitutes midline or 50% of their body weight on each limb. For
> patients who have spent a period of time on crutches, due to ortho trauma,
> amputation, etc the shift in midline to their 'new normal' can be a
> frustrating thing for a physiotherapist to treat.
> Linda McLaren, B.Sc. PT
> Physiotherapist, Amputee Team
> GF Strong Rehab Center
> 4255 Laurel Street
> Vancouver, B.C. V5Z 2G9
> [log in to unmask] (work)
> [log in to unmask] (home)
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2001 3:43 AM
> Subject: Partial weight bearing
>
>
> > A student was talking to me the other day about partial weight bearing.
As
> a
> > consequence of our discussion the following issues arose, and I would be
> > interested to hear your views. If you are aware of any research in the
> area
> > I would also be interested as the student has not (so far) managed to
find
> > anything relevant.
> >
> > It appears that some therapists give quite specific instructions about
how
> > much weight should be taken through a limb when a patient is partial
> weight
> > bearing. For example the patient should only take 50% of body weight.
But
> do
> > we have any evidence to support this level of precision?
> >
> > Is there any research into how strong (perhaps as a percentage of
original
> > 'strength') a bone is in the later stages of healing (union and
> > consolidation)?
> >
> > Does anyone know of any evidence that patients are able to weight bear
to
> a
> > specified level or is it rather a nonsense to tell a patient to take 50%
> of
> > his/her weight?
> >
> > Just out of curiosity I wonder what sort of instructions clinical
> > colleagues give when trying to convey the concept of partial weight
> bearing
> > to a patient. Obviously some use a percentage of body weight, others
> appear
> > to suggest to patients that there is a tomato or an egg under the sole
of
> > the foot and it should not be squashed!
> >
> > Marion Trew
> > University of Brighton
> > UK
> >
>
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