What Do Sleeves Do For A Prothesis?
In the system of a prosthesis, you don’t want a lot of air. You want a good, firm grasp of the prosthesis suspending onto your residual limb.
An artificial limb that falls off is obviously not the goal. So that is why a prosthetic sleeve can help.
With a suction style prosthesis, the air is evacuated from the socket, and over the top of the socket can be something called a sleeve.
The sleeve is something that you can roll up the residual limb and from there it can help to hold up (suspend the prosthesis). It has a gel like interior (often times silicone).
When applied correctly, the liner will help make sure that no air gets into the system.
One of the problems with suction style prosthetics is that people have to do it right, as we eluded to earlier.
You need to have your sleeve on right, for example, but your residual limb will need to be all the way down inside the prothesis as well. Meaning your initial liner needs to be applied correctly with no large air pockets and then it is important to make sure you are all the way in the socket before initiating the prosthetic sleeve.
The Seal Formed By Sleeves
In the picture here to the right, you can see a bilateral amputee wearing below knee, suction style prostheses. You can also see the prosthetist pointing to a certain aspect of the artificial limbs. The point that is being illustrated here in this picture is that the system does not have air in it and that you are being shown the seal of the sleeve on the prosthesis and residual limbs. This helps to avoid air getting into the system and also it shows you how the prostheses are suspended onto the person’s residual limb. This improves an individual’s confidence with the legs and also improves their activities of daily living as well because the limbs are secure.
Sleeves and suction style prosthetic legs can be very effective for some people. Why you ask? It is because for the right patient, it can help avoid certain problems. For instance, sometimes people have a problem with a pin style prosthesis on the residual limb. It can create a redness on the distal end for some people.
Application Of a Prosthetic Sleeve
The sleeve is typically rolled on. It starts with a distal (meaning down toward the bottom of exterior of a prosthetic socket) and this is usually accomplished by the prosthetist. You shouldn’t have to do this sleeve attachment yourself, unless you take things into your own hands.
As stated, it attaches at the base of the socket, which is then rolled on, and the sleeve usually goes above the liner that is put down in the first place.
