A. D. L. for Prosthetics

Abstract

General statistics were compiled from and the extent of A. D. L. was examined in the records kept by the National Pension Law Office on 60 cases who have undergone various kinds of amputation at limbs and were given the artificial limbs by the Welfare Pension Law. Out of these 60 cases one was the case with amputation at the shoulder joint, 4 with amputation at the upper arm, 16 at the forearm, 6 as the wrist joint, 14 at the thigh, one at the knee joint, and 18 at the lower leg. The criteria for A. D. L. as against the normal are established at 80-60% for the mild disturbance, 60-40% for the moderate, and under 40% for the severe.From the over-all evaluation, it was found that A. D. L. of the cases with the shoulder joint amputation proved to be 56%, with the forearm amputation 77%, and with the thigh or lower leg amputation 87%.From the A. D. L. evaluation it is obvious that in cases of the upper arm amputation it is desirable to leave a stump longer, especially in cases of forearm amputation so as to leave the functions of supination and pronation. In addition it would be better to train these patients in the use of the artificial limb for a work or functional artificial limb rather than the cosmetic artificial limb.On the other hand, in cases of lower limb amputation it is desirable to amputate the thigh at the middle and in the case of lower leg amputation at the routine level.In any case it is necessary that the patients with the amputated limbs should be equipped with the artificial limbs at an early stage and should be given the intensive rehabilitation training. At the same time it is urgently hoped that an artificial upper limb that would function just as efficiently as the natural human hand should be developed soon.