Article

The biomechanical responses to load carriage, a common task for dismounted
troops, have been well studied in nondisabled individuals. However, with recent
shifts in the rehabilitation and retention process of injured servicemembers,
there remains a substantial need for understanding these responses in persons
with lower-limb amputations. Temporal-spatial and kinematic gait parameters were
analyzed among 10 male servicemembers with unilateral transtibial amputation
(TTA) and 10 uninjured male controls. Participants completed six treadmill
walking trials in all combinations of two speeds (1.34 and 1.52 m/s) and three
loads (none, 21.8, and 32.7 kg). Persons with TTA exhibited biomechanical
compensations to carried loads that are comparable to those observed in uninjured
individuals. However, several distinct gait changes appear to be unique to those
with TTA, notably, increased dorsiflexion (deformation) of the prosthetic
foot/ankle, less stance knee flexion on the prosthetic limb, and altered trunk
forward lean/excursion. Such evidence supports the need for future work to assess
the risk for overuse injuries with carried loads in this population in addition
to guiding the development of adaptive prosthetic feet/components to meet the
needs of redeployed servicemembers or veterans/civilians in physically demanding
occupations.

Langue : ANGLAIS