Amputation has been practiced at least since 43,000 B.C.E. for ritualistic, punitive, curative, or vocational reasons. Fitting with prostheses has been done since at least 1,500 B.C.E. Anesthetics were used, but which ones is not known. Analgesics such as salicylates in plants, narcotics such as cocaine and opium, and soporifics such as alcohol and peyote were common. Amputation was done with knives, axes, and saws. Control of bleeding was by ligature, cautery, bandaging pressure, and plant and animal products. Suture was with cotton or human hair, acacia and other thorns, ant jaws, and sinew, with or without a drain. Prostheses were made of fiber, wood, bone, and metals, often lined with rags.
Through the use of electrodynog raphy the authors have quantified foot forces in the transmetatarsal am putee with respect to their location, severity, and duration. They have tried to relate this to the potential for foot breakdown. Their aim through electrodynography studies and through their questionnaire is to be gin to find those factors common to those who have not progressed to fur ther amputation. This provides a beginning to the data collection and evaluation of an extremely difficult problem. There is still a great need for further work, and the authors are continuing to ex amine their patients for the other fac tors involved, without which their data only hint at both causation and treatment. A natural extension of these studies is also examining forces in other partial foot, below-knee, and above-knee amputees, and these are also planned as future projects.
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