Rehabilitation following amputation.

  • Great Britain. Ministry of Pensions.
Date:
[1954]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rehabilitation following amputation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tion the patient should be encouraged to make use of his stump, and there are very many ways in which this can be done. If the patient is right- handed and has lost his right arm, a pencil can be attached to his stump whether it be an arm or fore-arm amputation, and after a few attempts he will write well. He should not only be allowed, but encouraged to do this even if at some later date he should elect to write left-handed. By using the stump for this purpose at this stage, he is being made to realise that it is of value. In the same way the stump can be made use of to aid the patient in feeding himself by the attachment of a fork or spoon, by strapping plaster or bandage. Leather gauntlets have been made for holding a pen, pencil, spoon or fork, which are adjustable, and can be attached to stumps of any size, and if these be loaned to the patient after amputation and before the stump is ready for limb fitting, the patient’s reactions to the limb when it is fitted are greatly enhanced (Figures 42 and 43). (2) Physical The successful use of an artificial arm is largely dependent upon the patient having a full range of movement in the proximal joint, or joints, and exercises for the mobilisation of the shoulder and elbow joint (in fore-arm cases) should be carried out. It is well that amputees of the upper extremity should join in the remedial exercises already described, which are used for amputees of the lower extremity. 3. ARM TRAINING The supply of an artificial arm to an amputee without adequate arm training in the use of it, is comparable to giving a small child his first bicycle without teaching him to ride and learn to balance. There are some arm users, as some children, who will overcome this lack of training and guidance by sheer inherent ability and determination, but many will not, and in the case of artificial arms, those who do not succeed without training will generally blame the artificial arm for their failure. AJL