Daily physical activity and heart rate response in people with a unilateral traumatic transtibial amputation.

OBJECTIVES

To test the hypothesis that people with a unilateral traumatic transtibial amputation are less active than people without an amputation, and to explore whether both groups have a similar heart rate response while walking.

DESIGN

A case-comparison study.

SETTING

General community.

PARTICIPANTS

Nine subjects with a unilateral traumatic transtibial amputation and 9 matched subjects without known impairments.

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Percentage of dynamic activities in 48 hours (expressing activity level). Additionally, we examined heart rate and percentage heart rate reserve during walking (expressing heart rate response) and body motility during walking (expressing walking speed). These parameters were objectively measured at participants' homes on 2 consecutive days.

RESULTS

Subjects with an amputation showed a lower percentage of dynamic activities (6.0% vs 11.7% in a 48-h period, P=.02). No significant differences were found between the 2 groups in heart rate (91.1 bpm vs 89.5 bpm, P=.86) and percentage heart rate reserve during walking (28.2% vs 27.5%, P=1.0). Body motility during walking was lower in the amputation group (.14 g vs .18 g, P<.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results support our hypothesis that persons with a unilateral traumatic transtibial amputation are considerably less active than persons without known impairments. The results indicate that heart rate response during walking is similar in both groups, and is probably regulated by adapting one's walking speed.