Alpha Liner Modifications

[Wayne Renardson]

Thom:

This may not be your problem at all, but your symptoms sound very 
similar.  

I had a patient who experienced similar symptoms with frequent distal 
failure of his liners. He was wearing 9mm Alpha Liners with locking 
pins.  I think I was able to successfully diagnose his problem, and 
knock on wood, it has been resolved, without reinforcement of any 
kind.   

Ohio Willow Wood recommends fitting these liners without socks. This 
is exactly what I did, a great no-sock fit. With this particular 
patient however, edematous fluids build up during sleep. When he 
would first donn his prosthesis in the AM,  he was off the bottom of 
the socket. Sometimes it was an inch or so until the fluid was pushed 
out of his limb. It was such a problem I installed the longest pins 
available to help engage the lock until he reached the socket bottom. 
  Big mistake.  Pressure generated from the temporary void daily, 
would pull the gel loose from the distal umbrella within a very short 
period of time.   

Solution:  switching to a 3mm liner and stump socks. Now the liner is 
correctly engaged at all times in the socket bottom, without voids, 
as the fluid is pushed out he adds single ply as necessary.    

Willow Wood advocates and I concur that voids of any kind facilitate 
premature failure of gel within the liner. Durability is enhanced 
dramatically by eliminating any and all voids.     

Again, this may not be your problem, but on the outside chance it is, 
I thought I'd mention it.  If this isn't, best of luck with your 
project.    

Sincerely,  

Kim L. Ruhl, CPO