THE ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN SOCIAL ROLES AND ACTIVITIES IN WEARERS OF UNILATERAL TRANSRADIAL PROSTHESES

Abstract

The literature related to upper limb prosthetic rehabilitation has largely focused on body structure and function. The constructs of activity limitation and participation restriction are comparatively under represented. The intent of this effort was to assess the related constructs of activity and participation among a cohort of individuals using unilateral transradial prostheses and correlate these findings against measures of upper limb function, satisfaction, quality of life, prosthetic wear time and pain interference.
We observed the strongest correlation of patient reported activity and participation to be an individual’s perceived bimanual upper limb function as measured by a custom PROMIS short form (r=0.74). Additionally, strong correlations were observed between activity and participation values and perceptions of both quality of life (r=0.44) and satisfaction with life (r=.37). The additional constructs of pain interference (r=.34) and reported prosthesis wear times (r=.32) also demonstrated weaker correlations with activity and participation.