Amputee socks
Open Access
- 6 January 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Prosthetics and Orthotics International
- Vol. 36 (1), 77-86
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0309364611431290
Abstract
Background: The term ‘sock ply’ may be a source of confusion in prosthetics practice because there may not be a consistent relationship between sock ply and sock thickness. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to characterize how sock ply related to sock thickness for different sock materials commonly used in limb prosthetics. We also evaluated how sock thickness changed under loading conditions experienced while wearing a lower limb prosthesis compared with unstressed conditions. Study Design: Experimental. Mechanical assessment. Methods: Seven sock materials of varying ply and sheaths were tested using a custom instrument. Sock thickness under eight different compressive stress conditions and two different biaxial in-plane tensile strain conditions were measured. Results: For socks woven from a single material, thickness under walking stance phase conditions averaged 0.7, 1.2 and 1.5 mm for 1, 3 and 5-ply, respectively. For socks woven from several materials, the corresponding results were 0.4, 0.7 and 0.8 mm, respectively. Sock ply did not sum, e.g. a 3-ply sock was not three times the thickness of a 1-ply sock. Conclusions: Sock thickness and compressive stiffness are strongly dependent upon sock material, interface pressure, and in-plane biaxial strain. Clinical relevance Data may be useful towards selecting socks during fitting and towards understanding volume changes induced by adding socks. An alternative nomenclature for thickness based on sheath equivalence may be more intuitive to practitioners and to the industry.Keywords
This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- Residual limb volume change: Systematic review of measurement and managementJournal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 2011
- Standing interface stresses as a predictor of walking interface stresses in the trans-tibial prosthesisProsthetics and Orthotics International, 2001
- Effects of changes in cadence, prosthetic componentry, and time on interface pressures and shear stresses of three trans-tibial amputeesClinical Biomechanics, 2000
- Interface pressures and shear stresses at thirteen socket sites on two persons with transtibial amputation.1997
- Indentor tests and finite element modeling of bulk muscular tissue in vivo.1996
- Volume fluctuations in the residual limbs of lower limb amputees.1982