Awareness, potential factors, and post-amputation care of stump flexion contractures among transtibial amputees

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to assess the level of awareness of transtibial amputee patients on stump contractures and their compliance with efforts implemented to prevent the condition.

Patients and methods: This study included 50 unilateral transtibial amputees (26 males, 24 females; mean age 55.4±14.7 years; range, 18 to 78 years) who met the respondent criteria of the study. The respondents were randomly selected and were issued with a questionnaire.

Results: The majority of the transtibial amputees were aware of stump contracture complications. It was found that they also preferred methods of prevention which required less effort, was cost-effective, and were also practical.

Conclusion: More focus should be placed on contracture prevention methods which were most complied with by the patients. This is because the effectiveness of a prevention method is highly influenced by patients' compliance with the method. Patients with a higher risk of developing stump contractures should be also given more attention in post-amputation care.

Keywords: Awareness; knee flexion contracture; post-amputation care; stump contracture; transtibial amputee.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Appendix. 1

Figure 1. Chart of total participants with and without stump contracture possession based on ages

Figure 2. Stump category with the presence of contracture

Figure 3. Distribution of participants based on the category of hospital with their awareness toward stump contracture

Figure 4. Compliance among the aware participants

Figure 5. Votes percentage for the most comply contracture prevention method