Can phantom sensations be a natural solution for restoring somatosensory information of the lower limb to improve walking with a prosthesis? – PhantomWalk

PhantomWalk will investigate whether somatosensory feedback of the lost lower limb after amputation can be restored by natural phantom sensations rather than by artificial substitution technologies. Our recent results, obtained through semi-structured questionnaires with 126 lower limb amputees, show that (1) phantom sensations can interfere both positively and negatively with prosthetic walking and are therefore integrated with walking, and (2) pressures, either local to specific sites in the residual limb, or global through the prosthetic socket, can modify phantom sensations. This could be used to adapt the shape of the prosthesis/skin interface so that the amputee has somatosensory feedback from the moving limb during walking. This will lead to innovative rethinking of the customization of the interface in terms of its relationship to the phantom limb rather than in terms of support constraints. The integration of 3 rehabilitation institutes (IRR, Maguelone, Chantecler) ensures the access to patients and the feasibility of these tasks. One of the key features of this project is the possibility to directly impact the manufacturing of the prosthesis interface if a modification of the pressure distribution within the socket on the skin improves gait. Therefore, we integrate the industrial partner Proteor in this projet, specialist in the manufacturing of individually adapted orthopaedic equipment. Proteor enables interaction between researchers, investigators, institutions and industrial research and development; this key partner will ensure a direct transfer of results to large-scale socket design and manufacture. Walking with a prosthesis will become more intuitive and of better quality.