Loads in hip disarticulation prostheses during normal daily use.

As a result of deficiency at birth, disease or trauma, there are people who have no limbs from the hip joint downwards. These people have no possibility of locomotion without the use of other devices such as wheelchairs or hip disarticulation prostheses. As these prostheses are used by people of all ages, people who are different in their grade of physical activities and their weights, the prostheses are subject to different stresses related to these different circumstances. The European Level 2 Draft Standard prEN 12523: 1966 "External limb prostheses and external orthoses - requirements and test methods" contains strength requirements for lower limb prostheses. These requirements shall be verified, where appropriate, by the application of the International Standard ISO 10328 "Prosthetics - Structural testing of lower limb prostheses" and ISO/FDIS 15032 "Prosthetics: Structural testing of hip prostheses". In order to allow the prostheses to be tested to the stresses that are experienced in real life, it is necessary to measure the stress that is induced in the prostheses while the patient is in an everyday situation, such as walking on level floor, walking on grass and/or walking on an uneven surface. This work is concerned with the acquisition of loads generated in hip units of hip disarticulation prostheses by amputees during various activities. More than 30 patients were tested in Germany, France, and Belgium. The measurements were carried out with financial support from the European Commission and coordinated by the secretariat of CEN TC 293.