Step Activity and 6-Minute Walk Test Outcomes When Wearing Low-Activity or High-Activity Prosthetic Feet.
Shane R Wurdeman, Kendra K Schmid, Sara A Myers and 2 others
PMID 27584137WHAT IT FOUND
Swapping between low-activity and high-activity prosthetic feet made no difference in how far K3/K4 amputees walked in six minutes or how many steps they took daily.
These common outcome measures cannot detect the functional differences between these foot types.
Key findings
01There was no significant difference in 6-minute walk test distance when participants wore a low-activity foot versus a high-activity energy-storage foot.
02Average daily step count also showed no significant difference between the two foot types.
03Neither the 6-minute walk test nor daily step count could correctly classify which type of foot a participant was wearing, with accuracy rates barely better than chance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study only included K3 and K4 level ambulators, so the results may not apply to lower-activity patients (K2 or below) who might rely more heavily on the mechanical advantages of specific feet. Participants wore the feet for only three weeks per condition, which may not have been long enough for biomechanical differences to influence physical fitness or self-efficacy. The study used various makes and models of high-activity feet, which prevented the researchers from identifying if specific foot designs performed differently. Step count monitors may produce artifacts during prosthetic ambulation, potentially affecting the accuracy of the daily step data.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest, and financial disclosures indicated no funding from companies that sell the treatments studied.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that high-activity prosthetic feet offer no clinical benefit to K3/K4 patients. The study shows that the 6-minute walk test and step count are poor tools for detecting the differences these feet make, not that the differences themselves are nonexistent.