Article

Lower-limb amputation is mainly a result of trauma, vascular disease,
diabetes, or congenital disorders. Persons with amputation lose their ability to
stand and walk on the basis of the level of amputation. Contribution of level of
amputation, type of amputation, or cause of amputation to balance impairment has
not been clearly defined. Furthermore, it is controversial how much the mentioned
parameters influence standing stability. Therefore, the aim of this review
article was to find the relationship between the abovementioned factors and
balance impairment in the available literature. It was also aimed to find the
possibility of improving standing stability by the use of different prosthesis
components. DESIGN: An electronic search was done via the PubMed, EMBASE, and ISI
Web of Knowledge databases from 1960 to 2012. Quality of the articles was
assessed using the Downs and Black tool. RESULTS: On the basis of the used key
words, 100 articles were found, of which 20 articles were selected in accordance
with the selection criteria. The scores of reporting, external validity, internal
validity (bias), and internal validity (confounding) varied between 4-9, 1-3,
3-5, and 2-6, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The literature review confirmed that
standing stability of amputees depends on level of amputation, type of
amputation, and cause of amputation. Moreover, prosthetic characteristics such as
prosthetic ankle stiffness have influences on dynamic stability, whereas
torsional adaptor does not have any positive influence on stability during level
walking and on turning stability. Therefore, it can be concluded that the
stability of a person with amputation can be improved by the use of appropriate
prosthesis components.

Langue : ANGLAIS