Timing Changes for Stance, Swing, and Double Support in a Recent Below-Knee-Amputee Child.

This investigation compared stance, swing, and double support times of a recent below-the-knee amputee (BKA) child's gait with the gait of normal children and with that of experienced BKA children. Kinematic data were collected for 11 normal children, 2 experienced BKA children, and a novice BKA child. Results indicated there were significant differences between the steps of prosthetic and nonprosthetic limbs and between normals and BKAs. Initially the gait of the novice BKA differed from that of experienced BKAs. After 94 days the gait of the novice BKA was not significantly different from that of the experienced BKAs. It was concluded that since the structure and function of the prosthetic limb is not the same as normal, (a) it may be appropriate for the BKA child to have an asymmetrical gait pattern, and (b) rehabilitation may be directed toward teaching the recent BKA child to walk more like experienced BKAs than like normal children.