Troubleshooting

Once you have been fit with your first preparatory prosthesis, it is very important to make sure that the fit feels right every time you put it on. Walking on a prosthesis with an uncomfortable fit can cause skin breakdown within minutes, and this damage could take weeks or months to heal. This page contains some tips to try when troubleshooting your prosthetic fit. Adjusting prosthetic sock ply and shoe heel height are two tools amputees can use to change their fit. When troubleshooting prosthetic problems, be sure to remember these important tips.

As your limb changes and shrinks in size, prosthetic socks are used to adjust and tighten up the fit. There are different types of prosthetic socks.

• Sheaths – thin nylons socks used to help reduce friction so you can slide your limb into your prosthesis more easily.
• Single Ply Socks – the thinnest sock, this sock describes a “single ply”
• Multiple Ply Socks – these socks have the thickness of either 2, 3, 4 or 5 one ply socks. For example, wearing a two-ply sock is just like wearing two one-ply socks.

When your residual limb shrinks over time and throughout the day, your prosthesis will feel loose and uncomfortable, causing pressure in different areas. Try adding or removing socks until discomfort inside your socket goes away. Often, an uncomfortable socket can be improved by wearing enough prosthetic socks.

When putting on your prosthesis every day, it’s important to evaluate your fit and make sure the prosthesis is comfortable before moving forward. If something doesn’t feel quite right, try taking your prosthesis off and starting again. Vary your sock ply until the prosthesis feels better. If this does not solve the problem, contact your Prosthetist.