Wear and use of prostheses in sport by adolescents with upper limb absence: a preliminary mixed-methods study
Wear and use of prostheses in sport by adolescents with upper limb absence: a preliminary mixed-methods study
Background: there is minimal research on sports participation in adolescents with upper limb absence (ULA) and specifically on the impact of prosthesis provision.
Objectives: this study explored using activity monitoring sensors and interviews to gain insight into levels of sport participation and associated prosthesis use in active adolescents with ULA.
Study design: a mixed methods study using a convergent parallel design.
Methods: semi-structured interviews and activity diaries were used to investigate sports and related activities undertaken during a 2-week period. Prosthesis wear/use were determined via accelerometers worn on the anatomical and prosthetic wrists throughout; interview data added context. For comparison, accelerometer data and activity diaries were captured from similar aged anatomically intact (AI) participants.
Results: three adolescents with unilateral transradial ULA and 4 AI adolescents were recruited. Two ULA participants wore prostheses during sport (16.2% and 56.5% of the time). The third rarely wore their prosthesis. The ability to participate in sport has a powerful influence on participants’ lives, and prostheses were used when participants felt they offered specific benefits. In contrast to AI participants, who showed similar reliance on each of their arms throughout, when wearing a prosthesis, users were heavily reliant on the anatomical arm, including during periods playing sports.
Conclusions: prosthesis use facilitated access to some sports, although they were only used by 2 out of 3 participants for short periods. The methods were acceptable to adolescent individuals with ULA.
activity monitoring, adolescents, interview, mixed methods, prosthetics, sport, upper limb
Chinn, Natalie M.
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Kenney, Laurence P. J.
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Chadwell, Alix
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Williams, Anita E.
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Head, John
cf34a318-8e41-41c4-af54-b3d970dfd24f
Chinn, Natalie M.
b0be9d0e-2269-42ec-a697-8d14f24391ae
Kenney, Laurence P. J.
bcca2173-9135-4b41-8741-059dd432329f
Chadwell, Alix
c337930e-a6b5-43e3-8ca5-eed1d2d71340
Williams, Anita E.
a11fe5ee-8e3d-4d87-aa5a-a5d62daafd2f
Head, John
cf34a318-8e41-41c4-af54-b3d970dfd24f
Chinn, Natalie M., Kenney, Laurence P. J., Chadwell, Alix, Williams, Anita E. and Head, John
(2024)
Wear and use of prostheses in sport by adolescents with upper limb absence: a preliminary mixed-methods study.
Prosthetics & Orthotics International.
(doi:10.1097/PXR.0000000000000394).
Abstract
Background: there is minimal research on sports participation in adolescents with upper limb absence (ULA) and specifically on the impact of prosthesis provision.
Objectives: this study explored using activity monitoring sensors and interviews to gain insight into levels of sport participation and associated prosthesis use in active adolescents with ULA.
Study design: a mixed methods study using a convergent parallel design.
Methods: semi-structured interviews and activity diaries were used to investigate sports and related activities undertaken during a 2-week period. Prosthesis wear/use were determined via accelerometers worn on the anatomical and prosthetic wrists throughout; interview data added context. For comparison, accelerometer data and activity diaries were captured from similar aged anatomically intact (AI) participants.
Results: three adolescents with unilateral transradial ULA and 4 AI adolescents were recruited. Two ULA participants wore prostheses during sport (16.2% and 56.5% of the time). The third rarely wore their prosthesis. The ability to participate in sport has a powerful influence on participants’ lives, and prostheses were used when participants felt they offered specific benefits. In contrast to AI participants, who showed similar reliance on each of their arms throughout, when wearing a prosthesis, users were heavily reliant on the anatomical arm, including during periods playing sports.
Conclusions: prosthesis use facilitated access to some sports, although they were only used by 2 out of 3 participants for short periods. The methods were acceptable to adolescent individuals with ULA.
Text
Chinn et al Prosthesis wear use during sport manuscript revised
- Accepted Manuscript
Restricted to Repository staff only until 13 November 2025.
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Accepted/In Press date: 29 July 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 13 November 2024
Keywords:
activity monitoring, adolescents, interview, mixed methods, prosthetics, sport, upper limb
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 498448
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498448
PURE UUID: 04f0e8b6-bba4-4561-9ad5-73ca406140ea
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Date deposited: 19 Feb 2025 17:30
Last modified: 20 Feb 2025 03:09
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Contributors
Author:
Natalie M. Chinn
Author:
Laurence P. J. Kenney
Author:
Alix Chadwell
Author:
Anita E. Williams
Author:
John Head
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