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From: Glenn Woodell on 5 Sep 2007 23:42
I posted a long time ago that I was being fitted for an MAS socket.
Well, after more than a year I have it. It took a long time due to
many reasons including the shop relocating which took a while and then
my own pickiness in getting a perfect fit.

The fitting was a little more difficult from my previous ones because
it was nto obvious what I was supposed to be feeling. I'm pretty thin
so there's very little padding so anything less than a perfect fit was
uncomfortable.

Now that I have been walking on it for a few weeks I can say that it
is better than my last one but I'm not so sure all of it is due to the
design change.

My last socket was a combination of MAS and narrow ML. I got it when
the MAS had just come out and my pros tried to give me a little of the
MAS shape to my existing design.

This full MAS feels quite different from my last socket. For one, I've
got a lot more mass way up in the groin area. It is actually
comfortable now but the fitting was pretty intensive. I've always had
a problem with the lateral wall of my socket pulling away from me at
the trochanter area, enough that you can place your whole hand in the
space that opens up. When I walk you can normally see the prosthesis
pull away from my hip through my clothes.

This new MAs does it as well but it it greatly reduced. I also had a
place at the distal lateral end of my leg where my femur was thrusting
outward against the inside of the socket and creating a painful
callus. That has disappeared now thankfully. This thing is reslly
comfortable to walk on now.

I did have some trouble with the top edge that is in the groin area
rubbing. I still get that a little but it's getting better now that
I'm getting more used to it.

I went windsurfing with it for the first time this past wekeend for
two days in a row and by the end of the second day I had gotten a raw
area rubbed where the top edge of the lateral side had rubbed. A
little Preparation H took care of that. Google me on that topic for my
comments on that product. Actually I use the generic or house brand
since it's so much cheaper.

Probably the biggest difference I see though is in my gait. It is
nearly perfect. I have always been a good walker but I walk even
better now. When I watch myself in a mirror or glass door, I can just
barely detect a difference between my good and my prosthetic strides.
I'm really surprised actually. I used to be bent backward a little as
I walked but now I'm walking more normally. I don't think this is
necessarily due to the MAS design but just a better alignment.

I am still getting used to the lower aspect of the MAS socket. It is
so much lower almost all the way around although much higher in the
groin area. When windsurfing for the first tinme I felt as if it were
going to come off. Of course it never did but the new feeling was
certainly something to get used to. It does dig into my anterior
proximal (upper front) thigh since it's so much lower there but I'm
getting used to that and it only really digs in when I'm windsurfing
and putting a heavy load on the leg.

So in summary, it's really hard to tell of the MAS design is any
better than what I had before. I am not able to rotate my socket on my
leg like I have seen in demos. When we did get it to rotate like that
it did not fit as well overall. Getting it just right on the bony
areas of the medial pelvis was a real challenge for me and I am so
glad it is over with.

I still think that a comfortable (totally pain-free) fit along with a
proper alignment is so much more important than any difference between
what I had before and what I have now.

Below the frame I have a Ferrier Coupling for easy lower leg and
clothing changes. For a knee frame I'm using a Mauch with the SNS knee
cylinder. I just switched from the Pathfinder foot to the Ceterus. I'm
not sure I like the Ceterus as much as the Pathfinder in use but it is
a little lighter and the attachment it a simple pyramid. I never like
the attachment system with the Pathfider. The Pathfinder did however
have a really nice transition between heel and toe, something ther
Ceterus lacks. Even after getting used to it, I still feel heel strike
and toe plant as very separate events whereas with the Pathfinder, all
I felt was a very smooth heel strike and an almost seamless transition
to the toe. With the Ceterus I always feel two distinct impulses which
is a little annoying.

I'll post some pictures before too long. The leg is finished with the
Blue Static laminate from Fredslegs
http://www.fredslegs.com/bluestatic.jpg and looks really good.

Glenn
From: Chuck on 9 Sep 2007 00:05
I understood everything you said except the part about the socket pulling
away laterally from the upper trochanter area. I used to have this gap too
but it was because the alignment was such that I was walking on the outside
edge of my foot. The knee was adjusted so that walk on the center bottom of
my sole (towards being slightly pronated) and that huge gap you spoke of
went away. Just wanted to mention it but I know you know this.

Chuck


"Glenn Woodell" <letsrig(a)cox.net> wrote in message
news:ntrud3psai5v6i94ned9ik65gn63df87ga(a)4ax.com...
>I posted a long time ago that I was being fitted for an MAS socket.
> Well, after more than a year I have it. It took a long time due to
> many reasons including the shop relocating which took a while and then
> my own pickiness in getting a perfect fit.
>
> The fitting was a little more difficult from my previous ones because
> it was nto obvious what I was supposed to be feeling. I'm pretty thin
> so there's very little padding so anything less than a perfect fit was
> uncomfortable.
>
> Now that I have been walking on it for a few weeks I can say that it
> is better than my last one but I'm not so sure all of it is due to the
> design change.
>
> My last socket was a combination of MAS and narrow ML. I got it when
> the MAS had just come out and my pros tried to give me a little of the
> MAS shape to my existing design.
>
> This full MAS feels quite different from my last socket. For one, I've
> got a lot more mass way up in the groin area. It is actually
> comfortable now but the fitting was pretty intensive. I've always had
> a problem with the lateral wall of my socket pulling away from me at
> the trochanter area, enough that you can place your whole hand in the
> space that opens up. When I walk you can normally see the prosthesis
> pull away from my hip through my clothes.
>
> This new MAs does it as well but it it greatly reduced. I also had a
> place at the distal lateral end of my leg where my femur was thrusting
> outward against the inside of the socket and creating a painful
> callus. That has disappeared now thankfully. This thing is reslly
> comfortable to walk on now.
>
> I did have some trouble with the top edge that is in the groin area
> rubbing. I still get that a little but it's getting better now that
> I'm getting more used to it.
>
> I went windsurfing with it for the first time this past wekeend for
> two days in a row and by the end of the second day I had gotten a raw
> area rubbed where the top edge of the lateral side had rubbed. A
> little Preparation H took care of that. Google me on that topic for my
> comments on that product. Actually I use the generic or house brand
> since it's so much cheaper.
>
> Probably the biggest difference I see though is in my gait. It is
> nearly perfect. I have always been a good walker but I walk even
> better now. When I watch myself in a mirror or glass door, I can just
> barely detect a difference between my good and my prosthetic strides.
> I'm really surprised actually. I used to be bent backward a little as
> I walked but now I'm walking more normally. I don't think this is
> necessarily due to the MAS design but just a better alignment.
>
> I am still getting used to the lower aspect of the MAS socket. It is
> so much lower almost all the way around although much higher in the
> groin area. When windsurfing for the first tinme I felt as if it were
> going to come off. Of course it never did but the new feeling was
> certainly something to get used to. It does dig into my anterior
> proximal (upper front) thigh since it's so much lower there but I'm
> getting used to that and it only really digs in when I'm windsurfing
> and putting a heavy load on the leg.
>
> So in summary, it's really hard to tell of the MAS design is any
> better than what I had before. I am not able to rotate my socket on my
> leg like I have seen in demos. When we did get it to rotate like that
> it did not fit as well overall. Getting it just right on the bony
> areas of the medial pelvis was a real challenge for me and I am so
> glad it is over with.
>
> I still think that a comfortable (totally pain-free) fit along with a
> proper alignment is so much more important than any difference between
> what I had before and what I have now.
>
> Below the frame I have a Ferrier Coupling for easy lower leg and
> clothing changes. For a knee frame I'm using a Mauch with the SNS knee
> cylinder. I just switched from the Pathfinder foot to the Ceterus. I'm
> not sure I like the Ceterus as much as the Pathfinder in use but it is
> a little lighter and the attachment it a simple pyramid. I never like
> the attachment system with the Pathfider. The Pathfinder did however
> have a really nice transition between heel and toe, something ther
> Ceterus lacks. Even after getting used to it, I still feel heel strike
> and toe plant as very separate events whereas with the Pathfinder, all
> I felt was a very smooth heel strike and an almost seamless transition
> to the toe. With the Ceterus I always feel two distinct impulses which
> is a little annoying.
>
> I'll post some pictures before too long. The leg is finished with the
> Blue Static laminate from Fredslegs
> http://www.fredslegs.com/bluestatic.jpg and looks really good.
>
> Glenn


From: Glenn Woodell on 9 Sep 2007 09:12
My problem we due to there not being enough support on the opposte
side of the socket, in the groin/ishial area. That's all fixed now.
The MAS pretty much assures that.

Glenn

On Sun, 09 Sep 2007 04:05:33 GMT, "Chuck" <cscholtz(a)mchsi.com> wrote:

>I understood everything you said except the part about the socket pulling
>away laterally from the upper trochanter area. I used to have this gap too
>but it was because the alignment was such that I was walking on the outside
>edge of my foot. The knee was adjusted so that walk on the center bottom of
>my sole (towards being slightly pronated) and that huge gap you spoke of
>went away. Just wanted to mention it but I know you know this.
>
>Chuck
>
>
>"Glenn Woodell" <letsrig(a)cox.net> wrote in message
>news:ntrud3psai5v6i94ned9ik65gn63df87ga(a)4ax.com...
>>I posted a long time ago that I was being fitted for an MAS socket.
>> Well, after more than a year I have it. It took a long time due to
>> many reasons including the shop relocating which took a while and then
>> my own pickiness in getting a perfect fit.
>>
>> The fitting was a little more difficult from my previous ones because
>> it was nto obvious what I was supposed to be feeling. I'm pretty thin
>> so there's very little padding so anything less than a perfect fit was
>> uncomfortable.
>>
>> Now that I have been walking on it for a few weeks I can say that it
>> is better than my last one but I'm not so sure all of it is due to the
>> design change.
>>
>> My last socket was a combination of MAS and narrow ML. I got it when
>> the MAS had just come out and my pros tried to give me a little of the
>> MAS shape to my existing design.
>>
>> This full MAS feels quite different from my last socket. For one, I've
>> got a lot more mass way up in the groin area. It is actually
>> comfortable now but the fitting was pretty intensive. I've always had
>> a problem with the lateral wall of my socket pulling away from me at
>> the trochanter area, enough that you can place your whole hand in the
>> space that opens up. When I walk you can normally see the prosthesis
>> pull away from my hip through my clothes.
>>
>> This new MAs does it as well but it it greatly reduced. I also had a
>> place at the distal lateral end of my leg where my femur was thrusting
>> outward against the inside of the socket and creating a painful
>> callus. That has disappeared now thankfully. This thing is reslly
>> comfortable to walk on now.
>>
>> I did have some trouble with the top edge that is in the groin area
>> rubbing. I still get that a little but it's getting better now that
>> I'm getting more used to it.
>>
>> I went windsurfing with it for the first time this past wekeend for
>> two days in a row and by the end of the second day I had gotten a raw
>> area rubbed where the top edge of the lateral side had rubbed. A
>> little Preparation H took care of that. Google me on that topic for my
>> comments on that product. Actually I use the generic or house brand
>> since it's so much cheaper.
>>
>> Probably the biggest difference I see though is in my gait. It is
>> nearly perfect. I have always been a good walker but I walk even
>> better now. When I watch myself in a mirror or glass door, I can just
>> barely detect a difference between my good and my prosthetic strides.
>> I'm really surprised actually. I used to be bent backward a little as
>> I walked but now I'm walking more normally. I don't think this is
>> necessarily due to the MAS design but just a better alignment.
>>
>> I am still getting used to the lower aspect of the MAS socket. It is
>> so much lower almost all the way around although much higher in the
>> groin area. When windsurfing for the first tinme I felt as if it were
>> going to come off. Of course it never did but the new feeling was
>> certainly something to get used to. It does dig into my anterior
>> proximal (upper front) thigh since it's so much lower there but I'm
>> getting used to that and it only really digs in when I'm windsurfing
>> and putting a heavy load on the leg.
>>
>> So in summary, it's really hard to tell of the MAS design is any
>> better than what I had before. I am not able to rotate my socket on my
>> leg like I have seen in demos. When we did get it to rotate like that
>> it did not fit as well overall. Getting it just right on the bony
>> areas of the medial pelvis was a real challenge for me and I am so
>> glad it is over with.
>>
>> I still think that a comfortable (totally pain-free) fit along with a
>> proper alignment is so much more important than any difference between
>> what I had before and what I have now.
>>
>> Below the frame I have a Ferrier Coupling for easy lower leg and
>> clothing changes. For a knee frame I'm using a Mauch with the SNS knee
>> cylinder. I just switched from the Pathfinder foot to the Ceterus. I'm
>> not sure I like the Ceterus as much as the Pathfinder in use but it is
>> a little lighter and the attachment it a simple pyramid. I never like
>> the attachment system with the Pathfider. The Pathfinder did however
>> have a really nice transition between heel and toe, something ther
>> Ceterus lacks. Even after getting used to it, I still feel heel strike
>> and toe plant as very separate events whereas with the Pathfinder, all
>> I felt was a very smooth heel strike and an almost seamless transition
>> to the toe. With the Ceterus I always feel two distinct impulses which
>> is a little annoying.
>>
>> I'll post some pictures before too long. The leg is finished with the
>> Blue Static laminate from Fredslegs
>> http://www.fredslegs.com/bluestatic.jpg and looks really good.
>>
>> Glenn
>

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