1046 - BOOST: A Novel Intensive Prosthetic Gait Training Program

In the United States alone, 5.6 million individuals live with limb loss or limb difference. Despite over 500,00 new amputations each year, prosthesis underutilization, untrained use, and abandonment persists due to a lack of adequate training to optimize function. To address this, we hypothesized that patients who participated in a novel, intensive outpatient rehabilitation program, coined BOOST, would demonstrate improved function, gait, and prosthesis use.

Design:

Lower extremity amputees were evaluated in a multidisciplinary physician-run clinic prior to enrolling in BOOST. Patients received 5-10 days of outpatient physical, occupational, and recreational therapy focused on gait training, strength training, and general physical preparedness. Outcome measures were obtained at evaluation and discharged and included the Timed Up and Go (TUG), the 2 Minute Walk Test (2MWT), 5 times Sit-to-Stand (5xSTS), and the Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-M). Paired t-tests were used to compare pre- and post-BOOST outcomes data within subjects, with significance defined as α < 5%.

Results:

We enrolled 50 transfemoral (TFA), 27 transtibial (TTA), and 6 other lower limb amputees (LLA) over a four-year period. The patient cohort consisted of 58 biological males and 25 biological females with an average age of 51.49±17.91 years.

In the TFA cohort, we demonstrated significant improvements across all PROMS and functional outcomes, including the Plus-M (Δ=+9.50, p< 0.001) the 5xSTS (Δ= –12.20s, p = 0.0028), the TUG (Δ= –8.98s, p< 0.001) and the 2MWT (Δ=+65.91m, p< 0.001) In the TTA cohort, we similarly showed significant improvements across all PROMS and functional outcomes, including the Plus-M (Δ=+9.59, p< 0.001) the 5xSTS (Δ = –4.86s, p< 0.001), the TUG (Δ = –4.93s, p = 0.0052) and the 2MWT (Δ=+92.35m, p< 0.001).

Conclusions:

In conclusion, these results demonstrate the effectiveness of BOOST on patient-reported and functional outcomes measures in lower extremity amputees.