Two Legs are Better than One: Therapeutic Interventions to Improve Prosthetic Gait, Ramps and Stairs

Course Description

Individuals with lower extremity amputations (LEA) require focused and specialized physical therapy interventions to maximize prosthesis use over all surfaces in the home and community, including ramps and stairs. The purpose of this webinar is to educate on how physical therapists and assistants can train individuals with LEA to negotiate level and unlevel surfaces, ramps, and stairs using their prosthetic devices. Physical therapists must be able to teach their patients with LEA how to utilize different prosthetic componentry, such as mechanical versus microprocessor knees, to optimize their mobility over all surfaces and in all mobility situations.

The aim is to provide the participant with the knowledge and skills needed to successfully train individuals with LEA in proper techniques for mobility on stairs and ramps. Through descriptions and demonstrations, this session will prepare the participant to help individuals with LEA maximize their gait safely and efficiently in all settings.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Evaluate the biomechanics of prosthetic gait and the contributions of various prosthetic componentry of an individual with lower extremity amputation (LEA) (transtibial and transfemoral) for the purposes of stairs and ramps.
• Identify at least three gait training techniques for individuals with LEA who use various prosthetic componentry, including prosthetic knees.
• Identify at least five practice training techniques for mobility over unlevel surfaces, ramps, and stairs for individuals with LEA.

• Prerequisites

  None

• Educational Level

  Intermediate

• Other

  Satisfactory completion of this course will require the participant to complete a 10 question post-test with a minimum passing score of 70%.