Utilization of prostheses among US veterans with traumatic amputation: A pilot survey

No random surveys have been done to determine how effectively veterans with amputation can utilize their prostheses, and only one limited survey has b een done of Scandinavians' use of lower-limb prostheses. A pilot survey of prosthetic problems was sent to all 170 US veteran soldiers who had traumat ic amputations over the last 10 years, whose addresses could be supplied by the VA, and whose medical synopses showed them to be otherwise healthy whe n leaving the military. This subpopulation was selected as a "best case" gr oup: those most likely to be active, young, and healthy enough to use their prostheses, as well as close enough to the military and veterans medical s ystems to get adequate treatment. if they have problems, the rest of the ve terans with amputation, relatively older and more debilitated, are very lik ely to have far worse problems. Although only 45 responded (26%), all had s ignificant problems using their prostheses for work. Most problems were rel ated to the attachment method. Even if all nonrespondents were problem free , at least a quarter bad very significant problems using their prostheses. This means that there are significant problems with current methods for att aching prostheses that need to be addressed. The first step should be a lar ge survey of veterans with amputation to get an accurate assessment of the extent of prosthesis-related problems.