Daily Physical Activity and Heart Rate Response in People with a Unilateral Transtibial Amputation for Vascular Disease

Objective: To study the activity level and heart rate response, objectively measured during normal daily life, of persons with a unilateral transtibial amputation for vascular disease. Design: Case comparison. Setting: General community, daily life in the Netherlands. Participants: Nine subjects with a unilateral transtibial amputation for vascular disease (convenience sample) and 9 control subjects without known impairments (matched for sex, age, social situation, employment). Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Duration of dynamic activities, body motility (the intensity of body movement, measured with accelerometry), and heart rate (on 2 consecutive days). Results: Persons with an amputation were less active than the comparison subjects (4.3% vs 11.4% of a 48-h period, P=.007). Body motility during walking was lower in the amputee group (.111g vs. .147g, P=.003). No differences between groups were found in normalized heart rate during walking. In the amputee group, a strong relationship was found between body motility during walking and the percentage of the day that the subject walked (r=.88, P=.002). No relationship was found between the percentage of the day that persons with an amputation were active and data from disability questionnaires. Conclusion: Persons with a unilateral transtibial amputation for vascular disease were considerably less active than persons without known impairments. Heart rate response during walking of the amputee group did not differ from the response in the comparison group.

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