People with limb amputation deal with thermal stresses in their daily activities. Unfortunately, in the majority of this population, all thermal transfer mechanisms, including convection, radiation, evaporation, and conduction, can be disturbed due to the prosthetic socket barrier, decreased body surface area, and/or vascular disease. The thermal environment inside prosthetic sockets, in addition to decreased quality of life and prosthesis use, comfort, and satisfaction, could endanger people with amputation with a high risk of skin irritations. The current review explores the importance of thermal and perspiration discomfort inside prosthetic sockets by providing an insight into the prevalence of the problem. The literature search was performed in two databases, PubMed and Web of Knowledge, to find relevant articles. After considering the review criteria and hand-searching the reference sections of the selected studies, 38 studies were listed for review and data extraction. This review revealed that more than 53% of people with amputation in the selected studies experienced heat and/or perspiration discomfort inside their prostheses. In spite of great technological advances, current prostheses are unable to resolve this problem. Therefore, more attention must be paid by researchers, clinicians, and manufacturers of prosthetic components to thermal-related biomechanics of soft tissues, proper fabrication technique, material selection, and introduction of efficient thermoregulatory systems.
Keywords: amputation; amputee; comfort; heat; perspiration; prosthesis; residual limb; skin; socket; temperature.