Prosthetic leg is used to replace missing legs due to a congenital condition, illness, or accident.
The process of installation prosthetic leg made by a team of experts, including medical rehabilitation specialists and prosthetist (expert made prosthesis or artificial limb replacement). To get the maximum benefit, a person must take care of the prosthetic and his amputated body parts.
Installation Process of Prosthetic Leg
Before the prosthetic leg is attached, there are some processes that must be performed, among others:
- Ensure the health of the area around the foot.
- Measure the stump (the end of the amputated body) so the size of the prosthetic leg fitted with body size.
- Make a plaster mold of the foot.
- Designing socket (buffer) to make it more comfortable.
- Adding the shaft at the candidate prosthetic limbs.
- Beautify candidate prosthetic leg to match the aesthetics of the body.
Just before the installation of artificial limbs, desensitization is usually performed of the skin around the stump or the base to be fitted with prosthetic limbs. Desensitization is a process of reducing the level of sensitivity of the skin around the stump to be more comfortable to wear prosthetic leg. The process of desensitization is performed as follows.
- The skin covering the the stump pressed by using a soft cloth. To reduce swelling, the section covered by bandage. It is also intended to prevent the accumulation of fluid on the the stump, either inside or around it.
- Furthermore, patients are advised to pull the skin and rub gently around the bone in order to avoid the formation of excessive scar tissue. This step can be done alone or can be assisted by medical personnel.
Usually you will begin to practice using prosthetic leg in ten days to two weeks after surgery, depending on the condition of the feet, sores and post-operative healing process.
After wearing prosthetic leg, you still have to train the muscles that still exist around the foot. In this case the physiotherapist will help train you. In order to familiarize yourself with this artificial limb, you are advised to continue to exercise instructed by your physiotherapist.
How to Take Care of Prosthetic Leg
Not just artificial limbs to be treated, but also part of the original foot using prosthetic limbs. You have to take care of it every day in the following way.
- Remove the prosthetic leg when you are going to sleep.
- Check your prosthetic leg, make sure that no parts are damaged, loose, or anything else.
- Check your stump, make sure no irritation, blisters, or other disorders.
- Ask for help of others to also examine whether there is any injury to the skin around the stump regularly.
- Clean the stump, then slowly massage the skin with lotion.
- To reduce swelling, wraps stump with bandage when you're not using prosthetic limbs.
- Do exercises to support endurance, range of motion, posture and stretching, as guide of the therapist.
- Choose the right size of shoes. Avoid high heels.
- Wear socks when you are using prosthetic leg.
- Clean the socket regularly with soap.
- Keep your weight in order to keep the size of prosthetic leg and your body and comfortable to wear.
- Consult your prosthetic leg in prosthetist once a year to ensure your prosthetic leg is still functioning properly.
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