Three-Dimensional Work Space of the Amputee

Abstract

Twenty amputees participated in this study to determine the three-dimensional work space for above- and below-elbow amputees with prostheses. Data were collected from the normal as well as the prosthetic extremity by a photographic method to obtain tracings of movements of the hand against a frontal plane at different distances from the subject. The subjects with below-elbow prostheses had an average decrease in the work space of 45%. The subjects with above-elbow prostheses had an average decrease in work space of 83%. The bimanual work space showed that the majority of the work space of the above-elbow prosthetic extremity could be reached by the normal extremity work space. The normal extremity could not reach as much of the below-elbow prosthetic extremity work space.