Comfort is of the utmost importance to any amputee when wearing a prosthetic device. The wearing of an artificial limb of any type can be likened to wearing a new pair of shoes. If they   
don’t fit correctly, are too tight, too loose or are the wrong shape, it doesn’t take very long for a person to cast them to one side and continue searching for a pair that fits. The same goes for prosthetic limbs, especially the prosthetic legs since they have to bear a person’s weight.

The prosthetists at Deist and Associates have been trained and have masses of experience in the various socket designs that are available. In above the knee prosthetics our prosthetists have worked mainly with the quadrilateral socket, which in the past was the only socket used for above the knee prostheses. This design has a soft, flat cushion-like area for the Ischium to sit on, and on the exterior side a low wall with the rim just below the femur’s Greater Trochanter.

In more recent years an Ischium containment socket has gained favour for above the knee prosthetics. This socket contains rather than supports the Ischium, and also contains the Greater Trochanter of the Femur. This newer design enables an above knee amputee to have more stability and a better bearing when walking.

As of 2009 the most recent socket design for above the knee prosthetics has been the Marlo Anatomical Socket or MAS socket. The success of this socket depends on precise measurements of the Ischio-Ramus area and it consequently takes a longer fitting time. It is a containment socket that allows the amputee a much greater range of movement. MAS socket technology is designed to contain the Ischial Tuberosity and the Ischial Ramus, and comfort, stability and gait are all improved when wearing it. Displacement of the amputee’s centre of gravity is minimized when using the MAS socket, thus minimizing the body’s lateral movement when walking.

Representatives from Deist and Associates recently attended courses Jamy Galesby, by a visiting international prosthetist from Ossur, which have brought the practice completely up to date with the latest advances in socket design, enabling us to pass these benefits on to our patients.