New type of liner

[allenuk]

Hello.

Being fitted with ANOTHER new suction socket at present, and my prosthetist is using a new type of liner, which isn't rubbery like Alphas, but more 'water-bed' based. It's a sort of gel liner, which is quite thin and hugs the contours of your leg closely, and is supposed to replicate the tissue & fluid that once covered your stump.

Felt good, and I like the idea - but I'll report back when I've actually got the new leg and walked on it a bit, which'll be in a few weeks.

I'll also get the proper name for the new liner!


Allen.

[msalicia48]

That'll be good to hear that way i can know what type of liner i can get next, i can't get another one til march but i guess its worth the wait so i can be comfortable walking. So please make sure that you post the name and how it feels, thanks.....

[allenuk]

Hello Alicia.

It is an Otto Bock Simplicity, made out of polyurethane (supposed to act like a water-bed). Mine is for a suction socket, and my prosthetist doesn't THINK they're made for pin-lock, but he's not sure, so worth asking.

I'll take a picture of it tomorrow and post it here. (Oh no you won't... Why not? Because your prosthetist kept the new liner along with the rest of the kit, and you won't get it back till the leg's finished. Oh, I see, sorry.)


Allen.

[headoncollider]

Hey Allen, I recently had to use a mineral based liner thingy because my suction socket was giving me a big love bite at the end of my stump,,,, and still is. At first I thought it would be a great idea, but soon found that the liner completely stopped all air getting to my skin. Therefore I was left sitting in my own sweat, without oxygen and also having the liner occassionally fold in an extreemly painful way.
It further inflamed my love bitten inflamed stump to the point that I decided it was impossible to use it at all. Now they are having a third go at making a correctly fitting suction socket, but I cant see these guys getting it right.
My GP recently asked me if I was happy with their work and I asked why. He said that he knew of 2 other paitents who decided to go somewhere else (city) because they wernt getting the sockets right. The pros guys are great people, but it does look like they arent all that great at their actual job.
I guess ill have to get a referal to do the same thing if they screw this one up
My stump is basically red at the end and has some small blood "draw spots" from the suction voids.

In any case, I do hope you have better results with your liner/s because my experience with them has been nothing but more problems.

[allenuk]

Thanks head, that's interesting, if a bit disconcerting.

I must say I like the IDEA of the new 'water-bed' as opposed to the soft Alphas, but when I tried the test socket the other day it wasn't all that comfortable.

I told my guy what was going on, and he is pushing on anyway, on the basis that the final version will be better (living in hope).

It is a BASTARD to get on; he wouldn't let me grab hold of the sides and pull it up, like a sock. I had to carefully roll it on from the stump upwards, bit by tedious bit, in order to make sure there wasn't any air between skin and liner. I hope that'll get easier.

Overall I found that it felt a bit 'hard' all over. What I want is SOFT all over! Like an old comfortable pair of shoes, where you put them on and FORGET about them.

Still, I know there is always a couple of weeks where you get used to a new socket, so I'll give it a bash, and keep them crossed.


Allen.

[headoncollider]

Mar 6, 2011 7:33:21 GMT -7 allenuk said:

Thanks head, that's interesting, if a bit disconcerting.

I must say I like the IDEA of the new 'water-bed' as opposed to the soft Alphas, but when I tried the test socket the other day it wasn't all that comfortable.

I told my guy what was going on, and he is pushing on anyway, on the basis that the final version will be better (living in hope).

It is a BASTARD to get on; he wouldn't let me grab hold of the sides and pull it up, like a sock. I had to carefully roll it on from the stump upwards, bit by tedious bit, in order to make sure there wasn't any air between skin and liner. I hope that'll get easier.
Overall I found that it felt a bit 'hard' all over. What I want is SOFT all over! Like an old comfortable pair of shoes, where you put them on and FORGET about them.
Still, I know there is always a couple of weeks where you get used to a new socket, so I'll give it a bash, and keep them crossed.
Allen.

Well, from what I can tell, less extra bits, the better!
That is to say, if you can get away with a set up that doesnt include a liner, thats the one to go for,,, if at all possible.

Yeah you do have to roll them on cautiously,,,,, isnt that "fun"
I just hope yours does'nt fold like mine does. Ive actually stopped wearing it now. But I am getting yet another socket made, so lets see how that pans out.
The test socket was way out, so I have little hope of the final thing being any good.
I guess i'll have to get a referal to another pros place,,,, a better pros place that is.

[cherylm]

Am I the only fan of roll-on, not-so-soft liners here? While I loved the softness of the gel liners they put me in at the beginning, they had a lifespan of about three weeks each...I'd rip them to shreds, poke holes through them, you name it...it seemed that I was always going in for a new liner...and I was pretty close to sedentary at that point. I might have been wearing out a liner per week if I'd been as active as I am now!

I've been in various versions of mineral-based liners for about four years now. It DOES get easier to roll them on, once they "loosen up" a bit (I will admit that for the first few days the roll-on is a tedious procedure)...they last for months and months at a time...they give me a much better feeling of being in contact with my socket, and now that I've passed the "perspiring profusely" stage of my stump development they stay put just wonderfully.

Please consider giving yours a chance, Allen...you might just become a convert!

[allenuk]

Thanks for those words of encouragement, Cherylm - hearing that the liner gets less tedious is indeed good news. I was dreading putting it on each morning and having to sit on the edge of the bed for 10 minutes trying to roll it up with hands that tend to take some time to 'get going'.

I'll give it a chance, by all means - I usually see a brand new socket as a 2 or 3 week settling-in job. I'm not getting the final version for a few weeks yet, but I'll report back on my conversion (or not)...


A

[barclay]

Could some one post a link to to a picture ? I've only known the silicon pin liners and the KBM system (supracondylar tibial prosthesis in the US according to a web site). Thanks

[allenuk]

Barclay:

this is from Otto Bock's website

www.ottobock.com/cps/rde/xchg/ob_us_en/hs.xsl/17560.html

and is not very revealing. Once I get me leg/liner in a few weeks, I'll take a couple of pics with leg in place, which should give you a better idea of the thing.


Allen.

[barclay]

Thanks