Daily physical activity and heart rate response in people with a unilateral traumatic transtibial amputation

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that people with a unilateral traumatic transtibial amputation are less active than people without an amputation, and to explore whether both groups have a similar heart rate response while walking. Design: A case-comparison study. Setting: General community. Participants: Nine subjects with a unilateral traumatic transtibial amputation and 9 matched subjects without known impairments. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Percentage of dynamic activities in 48 hours (expressing activity level). Additionally, we examined heart rate and percentage heart rate reserve during walking (expressing heart rate response) and body motility during walking (expressing walking speed). These parameters were objectively measured at participants' homes on 2 consecutive days. Results: Subjects with an amputation showed a lower percentage of dynamic activities (6.0% vs 11.7% in a 48-h period, P = .02). No significant differences were found between the 2 groups in heart rate (91.1bpm vs 89.5bpm, P = .86) and percentage heart rate reserve during walking (28.2% vs 27.5%, P = 1.0). Body motility during walking was lower in the amputation group (.14g vs. 18g, P < .01). Conclusions: Our results support our hypothesis that persons with a unilateral traumatic transtibial amputation are considerably less active than persons without known impairments. The results indicate that heart rate response during walking is similar in both groups, and is probably regulated by adapting one's walking speed.