Measurement of stresses in three orthogonal directions at the residual limb-prosthetic socket interface

Transducers were developed to measure stresses in three orthogonal directions applied on a below-knee amputee residual limb within a prosthetic socket during walking. Strain-gage measurement techniques were used for all three orthogonal directions. Instrumentation error for four transducers averaged less than 4.2% full-scale output (FSO) for the normal direction and less than 0.9% FSO for shear directions. Measurements from amputee subjects collected during walking trials are presented.>