The Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) is proud to offer the results of a consumer survey completed by the Limb Loss Research & Statistics Program (LLR&SP), a collaboration of the ACA and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in its new publication, People With Amputation Speak Out With the Amputee Coalition of America.

The purpose of this multi-year research project, funded by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was to determine how well people with limb loss were functioning in their everyday lives and what services they may need, but are not getting.

Survey questions asked of the 954 amputee participants looked at the overall health and well-being of people with limb loss, the need for services such as medical care and rehabilitation, the use of, and satisfaction with, prosthetic devices and related services and environmental barriers and attitudes that impact overall well-being.

The four main conclusions of this research are:

• The majority of community-dwelling amputees are living independently.
• Pain and depressed mood are the most common secondary conditions associated with limb loss.
• Among the sample of amputees surveyed, the majority reported wearing a prosthesis daily.
• A significant number of amputees reported barriers to accessing physical and emotional healthcare during the past year.

The mission of the LLR&SP was to improve the understanding of limb loss, explore people’s experiences living with limb loss, and design programs aimed at improving function and quality of life after limb loss. As a result of the findings in this study, researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Washington collaborated with the ACA to design the Promoting Amputee Life Skills (PALS) self-management program, aimed at improving the quality of life for amputees.

To request your free, printed copy of this 14-page report, contact the ACA at 888/AMP-KNOW (267-5669) or by filling out an information request to the National Limb Loss Information Center online at ASK the NLLIC.  Supply is limited, so request your printed copy today! This report is also available as a free download from the ACA web site at: http://www.amputee-coalition.org/people-speak-out/.