Full Description
Limb loss can occur due to trauma, infection, Diabetes, Vascular Disease, Cancer and other diseases. Lower limb amputation is relatively common and has a profound impact on a person's life, regardless of the cause. Feelings of loss and grief, difficulties in learning to walk with an artificial limb and readjustment to an interrupted life all pose considerable challenges. Nevertheless, there are countless stories of people who have successfully overcome these problems.This book provides the practical knowledge needed to cope with the life changes caused by lower limb amputation. It demystifies the medical process and technical jargon by using plain, easily understandable language. And it is the first book to combine medical, prosthetic and psychosocial factors in one convenient volume, including:Causes of lower limb amputation, especially Diabetes and ways to prevent further amputationSurgical techniques for lower limb amputationLearning to walk with a prosthesisThe unique challenges faced by children and elderly people living with an amputationExercising and sports with a lower limb prosthesisAnd much more!The outlook of this book is ultimately an optimistic one. Well-informed, knowledgeable individuals with amputations are better able to take care of themselves and are more effective self-advocates. This book gives them the tools they need to forge a productive, satisfying and high-quality life.
Contents
Introduction; The Causes of Lower Limb Amputation; Prevention of Additional Amputations; Amputation Surgery; The Early Post-Surgical Period of Recovery; The Rehabilitation Unit and the Rehab Team; The Prosthesis; Walking with a Prosthesis; Returning Home with a Prosthesis; Problems Commonly Encountered by Lower Limb Amputees; Follow-up Visits to the Rehabilitation Clinic; The Older, Frail Amputee; The Bilateral Amputee; The Child with an Amputation; Sports and the Lower Limb Amputee; Coping with the Loss of a Limb; Glossary; References; Resources; Index.
