Interface pressures and shear stresses: sagittal plane angular alignment effects in three trans-tibial amputee case studies.

Interface pressures and shear stresses at different sagittal plane angular alignment settings were measured on 3 trans-tibial amputee subjects ambulating with patellar-tendon-bearing total contact prostheses. Substantial socket-shank angular alignment modifications in the sagittal plane had minimal effect on stance phase peak interface pressures, though more substantial effects on stance phase peak resultant shear stresses. No consistent trend of a greater stress at misaligned vs nominally aligned settings was identified. Changes in interface stresses from session to session tended to be greater than those for different alignment settings, suggesting that subjects compensated well for misalignments but less well for session differences.