New Approaches for Choosing the Right Prosthetic Foot to Improve Mobility

More than 5 million Americans live with limb loss or limb difference, with lower limb loss (LLL) being especially common. For those with LLL, prescribing the right prosthetic foot is crucial for restoring mobility and allowing participation in everyday life. A new article in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation discusses new directions in clinically grounded research for the process of selecting a prosthetic foot as part of a prosthesis prescription, using a framework grounded in precision rehabilitation and patient-centered care. These approaches have great potential to improve the prosthesis prescription process, thus improving mobility, participation, and satisfaction for people with LLL.

The article was written by Professor David Morgenroth, MD; Affiliate Assistant Professor Beth Halsne, CPO, PhD; and Associate Professor Dan Norvell, MPT, PhD; as well as Alison Henderson, PhD, from the VA Center for Limb Loss and Mobility.