Pain & Pressure in Butt Bone

[xv3ckth0rn]

Hello all. I’ve received my first prosthesis today for my atk amputation. My prosthetist said that I should schedule with my physical therapist and my physical therapist will relay their suggestions for tweaks to the prosthetist.

It’ll take me about a week to get into my physical therapist, and then another week after that to get back into the prosthetist for them to make any adjustments recommended by the therapist.

Anyway, more to the point, my socket seems to be digging into my butt bone so much that I know I won’t be able to use it - I can’t put enough weight on it to take an actual step because of how intense the pain and pressure is on my butt bone.

Is this pain/pressure normal or is my socket just not contoured properly?

I bring up the timing above because if this is something that I can potentially fix myself at home with a heat gun or blowtorch or something I’d love to circumvent the unnecessary lag time.

Thanks in advance!

[stonecutter]

Hi there. Welcome to the forums. Sounds like you're a new arrival to the 'Some-assembly-required' club.

I would like to caution new amputees that when you first get up and walking around again, that the concept of slow and steady is the best approach. I was 19 when I lost my leg (BTK). So, naturally, after surviving an industrial accident I thought it was time to party, work and go to school - in that order, for sometimes upwards of 20 hours/day. My leg wasn't fitting well, and I ended up with a full-thickness blister through a skin graft. Pain points when wearing a prosthetic means that something isn't right and you need to get an adjustment done - by someone who knows what they're doing. I advise against making adjustments with heating guns / blow torches by yourself, although, I'm going to admit to you right now - I've been tempted to try it myself (but never have). I just think you are risking losing the socket if you make an adjustment that goes a bit too far and cannot be remedied.

We have several above-the-knee people here who may be able to help advise on your fit issues. As stated, I'm not an ATK guy, so I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but are you sinking in the socket too far, and as such, would adding a sock ply or two help?

Again, welcome to the forums.