Functional assessment after lower limb amputation

Abstract

The functional assessment of the amputated patient is of great importance, as the main rehabilitation goals in this group of individuals are mobility and independence. The objective of this study was to search in the specialized literature for existing instruments to help assess the degree of mobility in lower limb amputees and also to carry out a critical analysis of the selected articles. A total of 52 articles were included, which were published in English, Portuguese, Spanish and French from 1985 to 2005, using the following databases: Lilacs, Medline, Pubmed and Cochrane. Other non-online sources were also considered. This study has shown that several evaluation methods are used to assess functionality in lower limb amputees, but that a gold standard is yet to be acknowledged and that generic instruments, which are not amputee-specific methods to evaluate function, are inappropriate for use in this group of patients.