State-of-the-art methods for geometric and biomechanical assessments of residual limbs: A review

A review is presented on the state-of-the-art methods for geometric and bio mechanical assessments of residual Limb tissues. Residual limb assessments are needed throughout different stages of prosthetic management, namely pre amputation, residual limb maturation, prosthetic design, prosthetic fitting , and subsequent follow-ups. Geometric assessments include the monitoring o f the volumetric change as the residual limb matures after amputation. Geom etric and biomechanical assessments of the residual limb are important cons iderations in prosthetic design. Quantitative geometric and biomechanical assessments are becoming more impo rtant in the development of a computer-aided system for prosthetic socket d esign. It is noted that, except for the external shape measurements of resi dual limbs, most of the instruments used in residual limb assessment are no t particularly cost-effective for clinical applications in prosthetics. Fur ther developments are needed to facilitate the incorporation of the interna l geometric assessments and biomechanical assessments into the current comp uter-aided design systems for clinical prosthetics.