A Prospective Assessment of an Adjustable, Immediate Fit, Subischial Transfemoral Prosthesis.

To assess the feasibility of an adjustable, subischial transfemoral prosthesis by comparing self-reported outcome measures regarding socket comfort, fit and utility relative to a persons' conventionally made socket. Assessing limb compressibility was another aim of this study. A single-group pre-post intervention design. Physical medicine and rehabilitation biomechanics laboratory. All 18 enrolled participants (N = 18) completed the feasibility trial. There were 16 men and 2 women with an average age of 59.4 (±7) years. Most of the participants (61.1%) had worn a socket for 1 to 10 years before the trial, 22.2% of the participants had worn one for less than a year, and 16.7% of the participants had worn a prosthesis for more than 10 years. Participants were fit with the study prosthesis and used it for a 2-week home trial. A Prosthetic Comfort and Utility Questionnaire was completed on the participant's conventional prosthetic device and the subischial socket system after the trial. The adjustable subischial prostheses were rated superior overall to the participant's conventional sockets (40.9 ± 7.2 vs 32.8 ± 10.8; The adjustable, immediate fit, subischial prosthesis provided safe, comfortable, and functional ambulation for persons with transfemoral limb loss in this short-term feasibility study. This study supports the consideration of a new paradigm in transfemoral prosthetics-adjustable subischial sockets. These devices should be tested in a larger multi-center study.

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