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Post by allenuk on Jun 17, 2012 6:39:50 GMT -7
I was sitting at my desk today, having just put some ointment on my stump which required a good hour to dry out.
Anyway, after an hour or so, I put my leg back on, having been sitting with it 'dangling' off my chair. And although I used the same number of stump socks, etc., it was far harder to get on - which I assume is because bodily fluids sank into the stump area by gravity.
Spin-off being, it was far more comfortable! Well, my stump USED to be comfortable, a few years back, and my prosthetist always says he can't do much as it is nowadays so boney.
Normally, in the mornings, I put on my leg straight from bed, where the dangling isn't a factor. I do shower sitting down, with my leg dangling, but only for 10 or 15 minutes.
I might do the odd experiment where I sit around legless for an hour, then try some activity, and see if it improves matters.
I wonder if there's any way of turning this natural phenomenon into something useful.
Allen.
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Post by cherylm on Jun 18, 2012 0:01:26 GMT -7
If you can figure out a way to make it work for you, Allen, go for it! I know that if I have to go without my prosthesis for any amount of time and can't keep my stump elevated, the fluid retention can make a huge difference. Might as well try to make it work to your advantage!
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Post by stonecutter on Jun 18, 2012 10:33:29 GMT -7
More socks? OR - maybe there's a thicker liner? I do know that when I have my first socket post surgery this spring, I changed from using a 6mm front wall in my alpha liner to a 9mm. That took up about the equivalent of a 5 ply sock.
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Post by ann- on Jun 18, 2012 14:15:10 GMT -7
I have a similar situation with one of my legs Allen ... haven't been able to get a new leg that fits in over two years now which is a bit depressing ..... recently though had more serious probs with my old faithful prosthetic and seemed I was way to deep in it actually on the end, yet my usual tricks of adding socks and half socks didn't work. They actually put two thick linings in the socket to see if it would settle down, there was a hint about a revision, but they think now they can deal with it prosthetically ... so am now having another new socket made (lost count of what number that is) so fingers crossed.
But going back to your posting about letting the legs dangle and them changing shape, thats the same with me, and usually when I take them off I make sure I put them up, its also more comfortable. At the moment I am having to start off the one which is causing me problems with a thinner sock in the morning for about an hour before I go on to a thicker sock, this is unusual for me so I know there are still some probs with the re-lined socket.
I've heard the same said about taking showers and baths in the morning, will make the leg increase in volume, doesn't usually affect me though.
Maybe you have the same problem I had in that your prosthesis is actually a bit big ... yet if you put on extra socks its too tight in the boney areas! thats what was and slightly still is happening to me.
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Post by allenuk on Jun 19, 2012 5:45:19 GMT -7
I think what happens is this (and it only applies to BKAs, I think, not AKAs). Wearing a conventional liner/socket set-up has the effect of easing your fluids back out of your stump into your thigh area, hence the harshness we sometimes get. Socks can help, but of course they also MOVE your stump about, sometimes in ways you don't want. For example, if you put on a half-sock around your knee, the base of your stump is lifted up a couple of millimetres, i.e. it takes it away from the way it was originally cast. What the 'fluid' sock seems to do is to act in a more natural manner, only 'filling up' the areas which need it, rather than every one getting some, which happens if you add a sock or two. Of course, then when you walk, this extra fluid gradually gets shifted back up your leg, until it ends up in the wrong place, again. Michael Love invented something on these lines, which you can see on: www.amputee-center.com/pump_it_up.html(Caution: his website was designed by an idiot. Everything is underlined, for no good reason, except that it makes it hard to read). Anyway, I've never heard of anyone actually using a 'Pump it up' socket, so don't know whether it worked or not, but it seems to be the same principle towards which I am groping. Oh, and at the last count, it was only available if you could get to his offices somewhere around New York, which lets most of us out! A. |
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Post by ann- on Jun 19, 2012 11:31:19 GMT -7
I took a look at that Allen and looks interesting ... I do know someone who has had something slightly similar a/k but not sure if it actually worked or not.
I have always done the half sock thing but it didn't actuallly help me this time and my prosthetist said it was because the stump is long and if it gets tight in the middle it makes the end swell so ... usually works short term though.
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Post by allenuk on Jun 20, 2012 0:59:44 GMT -7
It's all a bit vague, so far Ann, but I think we're getting somewhere between us.
The last time I had a cast my prosthetist persuaded me to let 3 of his students make casts at the same time, so I was sitting there dangling for about an hour in all. I wonder whether that affected the eventual fit of this particular socket. Hmm.
A.
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