Gait kinematics in below-knee child amputees: a force plate analysis.

A complete gait analysis was performed on six children with below-knee amputations to determine the kinematics and kinetics of amputee gait in children. A relatively new method of analysis--the inverse dynamic relationship--was used to determine the joint moments in the sagittal plane of the joints in the intact limb and the remaining portion of the amputated limb. The joint moments in the sagittal plane of the intact limb in the child amputee were found to be normal or below normal during level walking. From this study, it was concluded that providing a child amputee has a good prosthetic fit, there will be no increased forces across the joints of the intact or amputated limb and consequently no predisposition to premature degenerative arthritis.