Socks !

Inside every prosthetic is a sock waiting to get out.......

Or in my case ... lots of them for both of my legs, which you can see here drying out on the radiator.  The pink ones are just for fun as I was taking this photo for another project I am working on,

After an amputation the end of the residual limb (stump) is VERY swollen.  Muscle is used to wrap around the remaining bone to cushion it, so post-op this is a bit angry.  Over many months the swelling, then the muscle shrinks down.  The end result is that the residual limb (stump) shrinks.

When it comes to a rigid prosthetic fitting over the top of this, this means that it is going to get loose.  Also on hot days, or with exercise, your stump will get a little bit bigger and sweatier.  On cold days it will get a little smaller.  So basically you are playing a juggling game between your stump getting naturally smaller, the temperature of your body, and how tight the prosthetic is.  At the start of the day all can be fine, but later you are flopping around or feeling a bit too snug.

If the fit is too lose you can bang your bone into the bottom of the prosthetic, which can be very painful !

The prosthetic can be recast to make it smaller or bigger, but then you are stuck with the size you have until the next cast. 

So what can you do ?..... The answer is socks.

The socks are similar to sports socks, except they don't have a heel or an angle between the ankle and foot.  So they are basically a tube with a round end.

They come in "thick" or "thin".  "Thick" is your sports sock / flannel thickness.  "Thin" is like a day to day foot sock, I think 2 "thins" = 1 "thick".  So you basically layer these all up until you feel comfy.  

Things can get a little complicated if your limb is thicker at one end than the other.  So for this you can have "half and half" socks.  Where one half is "thick" and the other half is "thin"

Socks can be so much fun... !