Abstract
Objective: To investigate whether the aerobic capacity of older adults who underwent a lower limb amputation is associated with the presence, cause (traumatic or vascular), and level of amputation (transtibial or transfemoral).
Design: Cross-sectional descriptive.
Setting: Human motion laboratory at a rehabilitation center.
Participants: Older subjects (n = 36) who underwent lower limb amputation and age-matched, able-bodied controls (n = 21). All subjects were able to walk for a minimum of 4 minutes.
Interventions: Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measure: Peak oxygen consumption (Vo(2eak)) was measured using open-circuit respirometry while performing a discontinuous, graded, 1-legged, peak cycle exercise test.
Results: After correcting for age, body mass index, and sex, the multiple linear regression analysis revealed that subjects who underwent amputation had a 13.1% lower aerobic capacity compared with able-bodied controls (P=.021). Differentiation among etiologies revealed that subjects with a vascular amputation had a lower Vo(2peak) of 29.1% compared with able-bodied controls (P
Conclusions: Older adults who underwent an amputation because of vascular deficiency had a lower aerobic capacity compared with able-bodied controls and people with a traumatic amputation. The level of amputation was not associated with Vo(2peak).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1924-1929 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation |
Volume | 93 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov-2012 |
Keywords
- Amputation
- Exercise test
- Lower extremity
- Physical exertion
- Rehabilitation
- LOWER-EXTREMITY AMPUTEES
- ENERGY-COST
- HEART-RATE
- ANAEROBIC THRESHOLD
- PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY
- VASCULAR-DISEASE
- AEROBIC CAPACITY
- EXERCISE
- WALKING
- PERFORMANCE