How To Care For A Stump

After amputation, the skin of the stump is subject to irritation and often to iniury and infection. Care of this skin is therefore a vital part of rehabilitation.

This pamphlet offers some basic rules to be used in the care of the stump. Although the illustrations show leg amputees, the rules of stump hygiene are also applicable to arm amputees.

In the first section, a daily routine of skin hygiene is shown. Since the socket of the artificial limb may in itself produce a disorder, care of the socket and of the sock and bandages that come in contact with the skin is also illustrated.

Some of the common skin disorders of the stump are discussed briefly in the second section. Correct ways of bandaging the above-knee and below-knee stump are illustrated in the third part of the pamphlet.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If a simple routine of stump care is followed consistently, the amputee can avoid many of the disorders that might force him to stay off his prosthesis.

1. Cleanse The Skin
2. Cleanse The Socket
3. Cleanse The Sock
4. Cleanse The Bandage
5. Bandaging
6. Skin Troubles
7. Tips For Amputees