A Qualitative Study Exploring Individuals’ Perceptions of Physical Activity following Amputation

Research Objectives: To explore perceptions of physical activity from the perspective of people with lower limb amputations (LLA).

Design: A qualitative descriptive study situated within an interpretive research paradigm.

Setting: Semi-structured interviews were conducted by telephone or in-person with adults living with major LLAs recruited from rehabilitation hospitals in Toronto, Canada, and advertisements on social media.

Participants: Thirty-three people with LLA participated. Eligibility criteria included: 1) ≥18 years of age with a major LLA; 2) ability to communicate in English; and 3) ability to participate in a 60-minute interview. Purposive sampling was employed to ensure variation by sex, geographic location, cause and level of amputation.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: Not applicable.

Results: The majority of individuals had a unilateral, transtibial amputation (~50% dysvascular LLA; 23 men/10 women; median age 63 years). Three main themes were developed to characterize participants’ perceptions of physical activity: 1. Physical activity is perceived as important but can be challenging following amputation; 2. Physical activity has physical and mental health benefits; and 3. Physical activity is a means to maintain independence and engagement in community and social life.

Conclusions: The findings from this qualitative study provide important insights on how people with LLA perceive physical activity. Given that people with LLA are often sedentary because of deficits in balance and community walking, these data may inform future interventions since these data illustrate how people with LLA think about physical activity, what motivates them, and what can be done to optimize their physical activity levels. Future research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to enhance physical activity in this population.

Author(s) Disclosures: There are no disclosures for any of the authors on this proposal.