E. Rene's suggestion "for cp's and ak's"

[george boyer]

Yeah, Anita.....I was going to suggest that before you go into big
modifications that you should sit down and realize that you are dealing with
sitting down :-)  Rene is describing my experience exactly (six and a half
years in a bunch of AK sockets) and I routinely reach down and press my push
button valve when I stand up and about half the time there IS a bit of air to
expel.  None of my sockets has required modification on account of this but if
you have air leaks sufficient to cause you to tend to lose or shift in your
socket you may need adjustment of some kind.  An air void at the end of your
stump is damaging if it persists while walking but I think there's no
difficulty if it is present only when sitting, or if it presents discomfort for
you.  Fabrication of a new socket may only bring new glitches (unless you have
one of those almost mythical 'masters' for a prosthetist, in which case he
would arrive at your solution before doing that).

BTW, removing the valve to expel air???  Naaaah.  For my own part I've never
seen anything but a 'push button' valve.  A self-bleeding valve sounds almost
too logical to be really new but.....

Another speculation may be pertinent (if questions of gender differences is not
excluded as impertinent):  do not persons of the female persuasion have soft
tissue characteristics in their thighs somewhat different from those of male
assignment.  If true, may this not accentuate these subtle leak problems?

And while in 'gender' territory perhaps  Rene would favor us by removing the
ambiguity inherent in his name....:-)  And perhaps remind us of the
circumstances of your 1 1/4 year amputee ID.

And before leaving Gender Territory I want to bring up a question which wasn't
adequately dealt with in earlier exchanges but which should appear under a
separate subject heading (if you will indulge me in raising it here).  The
question is whether for women amputees there is any correlation between phantom
phenomena and the menstrual cycle.  Persons responding to this thread, ahem,
should change the subject line of their posts.

Faithfully yours, GeorgeB.

Rene's post is so nice that I hate to clip it to save bandwidth.


"E. Rene Rodriguez, M.D." wrote:

> Hi again Anita:
>
> That feeling of you skin pulling away is what the prosthetists call a slow
> leak through a "channel". The channel is minute (almost a virtual cavity)
> but lets the air in just as efficient as a large hole.  Every individual is
> different but they tend to occur in the areas where the muscles have natural
> fascial planes, where one muscle can slide over another muscle just a bit,
> and the overlying skin and subcutanuos tisse can, in turn, slide along and
> pull away from the flexible part of the socket.  Although I've been a member
> of this "club" only for a little more than 1 1/4 years I have snooped around
> with my prosthetist, his partners and colleagues from several facilities in
> Chicago.  These slow "leaks" while changig position are a little bit of a
> challenge to fix.  Early on while I was still undergoing atrophy
> (particularly the latera and postero/lateral mucles, because those are the
> ones we, AK's don't use as much as extensors flexors and adductors) we (my
> prosthetist and I) had a period of several weeks of trial and error with
> those liners until he crafted the right liner to hold the vaccum just right,
> witouth becoming too tight or uncomfortable.
>
> Re: Self bleeding valve:  According to my prosthetist, is a new model in the
> market (they just found out about it about 6 - 8 months ago). I just took it
> off the socket, but not a clue about the manufacturer on it. I you want,
> I'll find out who is theis suplyer and let you know.
>
> I hope this helps to figure out the source of the leak and fix it.  Good
> luck, I know, it IS anoying
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: AMP-L-owner at u.washington.edu
> > [mailto:AMP-L-owner at u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Ranitak at aol.com
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 1999 6:15 PM
> > To: Amputee Information Network
> > Subject: Re: question for cp's and ak's
> >
> >
> > thanks rene,
> > am going to try different pads tomorrow.
> > as for the self bleeding valve,, hmmm, something tells me i tried
> > one once,
> > but didn't like it. i've been an amp for 15+ yrs, so it might've
> > crossed my
> > path. but i'm definitely going to check into it again.
> > thanks,
> > :)
> > anita
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 99-03-30 16:53:57 EST, you write:
> >
> > <<  But instead you may just
> >  need liner in that area, between the flexible socket and the hard
> >  shell.  Also, you may want to ask your prosthetist about a self bleeding
> >  valve, they are easy to replace. They work like a charm and do not leak.
> >  They bleed themselves as soon as you put weight on the prosthesis. They
> >  make no difference while walking. I like mine a lot.
> >  Rene >>
> >