SUMMARY OF RESPONSES, FOR USING SILICON SUSPESIONS 2

SUMMARY OF RESPONSES, FOR USING SILICON SUSPESIONS 2

Ajaz Ahmed Zargar

3/31/2001

SUMMARY OF RESPONSES, FOR USING SILICON SUSPESIONS 2

I am a prosthetist practicing in South Africa. The area I live in regularly
has temperatures that reach into the 40 degrees in summer. Most of my
amputees are wearing the Alpha liner. It is very important that the Alpha is
therefore sold as a set. As long as the fit is correct & airtight, your
patient should not suffer any abnormal discomfort. Yes, they do get hot, but
not intolerably so. As long as the patient washes his liner well on a daily
basis & alternates it, he should be fine. The trouble starts when the liner
developes an air leak as that is when they start sweating badly. To
summarise, as long as the personal hygiene is good, your aptient should not
suffer excessively.
Good luck.
Kind regards
Sean Thorncroft
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
,
ASA, Hope you are doing good.Sweating with alpha or silicon is more related
to its fit than the climate.A nice tight fit will cause less perspiration
than a relatively loose fit.For this reason you ought to measure the stump
40mm above the most distal part and take the circumference there .Whatever
the measurments minus one and you get the size for your silicon linner.At
this measurment you expect least perspiration.However if the patiient
perspires profusely (naturally) there are antiperpirants in the market that

block the skin pores and help prevent perspiration.
In my practice although I use a lot of alpha and silicon pin suspension ,I
have other concerns insted of perspiration.So in a way you can say I am not
a big advocate of pin suspension.I use a lot of suction sockets for B.k's as

well as AK's.
Usually the shuttle locks that are incorporated in the socket have a pyramid

attached distaly thay gets attached to pylon via clamp adapter.The rule says

that pin should follow the line of progression.As you attach the shuttle
lock along the line of progression you end up with totally wrong alignment
of pylon and foot and hence bad gait.If you attach the shuttle lock at an
angle to the socket obeying the alignment your pin will face the lock at an
angle and patient will have hard time engaging the pin and also suffer from
pain on the distal end of the socket.For this reason I prefer suction
suspension over pin.
However if I feel necessary to use the pin system I use a seperate pyramid
not attached to the shuttle lock.This process is long tedious and ugly in
apperance but nevertheless biomechanically correct.

BURHAN DHAR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought I would respond to your email. I am a BK amputee and a
prosthetist. I live in Las Vegas, NV where it reaches the unbearable
temperatures that you are talking about. I wear the Iceros Comfort liner
and deal with it well here. Of course I sweat some in the liner, it is not
that bad. This sweating problem has dramatically decreased over the past
couple of years though as I have worn this type of liner. In the beginning,

I would remove my prosthesis and liner and pour about 1/2 cup of sweat out
of the liner. It is not like that anymore. I recommend that you go ahead
and try it for a period of time and let the body adjust to it and see if the

sweating decreases for the patient. That was my experience and I have heard

that same situation from several amputees here in this desert climate.

Jim DeWees

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------

I work in a hot climate and use 3-S systems 90% of the time. There may be

individual issues with heat or rashes due to heat or perspiration. One
trick is to wear a sheath or 1 ply sock underneath the liner if it doesn't
affect suspension. Some of my patients discover this trick on their own.
Alpha has a 10 day trial period now. Put the liner on and let the patient
tell you if he or she can take the heat.

Bobby Leaber, CP
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My practice is in Alabama and we have humidity and heat. Acceptance of
Alpha
and similiar liners vary. It depends on the patient and their nature. If
they tend to sweat easily anyway, do not put them in a liner. They will
pour
sweat from them.
                                                   Teri Powers-Watts,
CPO,CPed