Silicone suspension of external prostheses. A new era in artificial limb usage.

The use of silicone inner sockets, with or without the incorporation of shuttle locks, has greatly improved the function of artificial limbs. They cushion and protect the stump and provide a means for prosthetic suspension, allowing more comfortable use, especially in patients with ischaemic stumps. They also allow greater movement at the proximal joint.

A functional and psychosocial assessment of patients with post-Sudeck atrophy amputation.

Twelve patients with reflex sympathetic dystrophy were referred to a comprehensive orthopaedic rehabilitation center after failure of conservative management. Ten underwent amputation of the affected limb and, although functional improvement occurred in the patients undergoing lower limb amputation, psychosocial dysfunction persisted. All the patients required psychological support. In cases of post-Sudeck amputation, early orthopaedic diagnosis and referral to a comprehensive treatment center are recommended. In the 12 cases described here, apart from the obvious limb pathology, severe psychological inadequacies were found to be present.

Phantom limbs and related phenomena in recent traumatic amputations.

Seventy-three soldiers who had traumatic amputations were examined from 1 to 6 months after limb loss. All experienced phantom limb sensations and 67 percent experienced phantom limb pains, usually transient. Stump pain occurred in 43 percent and was associated with phantom pain in 54 percent of these. Of the 23 percent of the entire group who had evident stump pathology, 33 percent had phantom pains only, 20 percent had stump pains only, 40 percent had both, and 7 percent were pain-free. All stump ends exhibited an area of hyperpathia with hypoesthesia. Phantom pain probably results from peripheral or spinal cord mechanisms, or both, rather then from more rostral mechanisms.