Metabolic Cost and Performance of Athletes With Lower Limb Amputation and Nonamputee Matched Controls During Running A Systematic Review

The elastic function of running-specific prostheses likely contributes to a lower metabolic cost of running. However, it remains unclear whether running-specific prostheses provide advantages concerning the metabolic cost of running in relationship with nonamputee runners. This study aimed to systematically review the scientific literature to examine the peak performance (peak oxygen consumption-VO2peak and peak speed) and the metabolic cost between paired amputees and nonamputees during running and between amputee runners with traditional prostheses and running-specific prostheses. A literature search on three databases (MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) was conducted using the following key words: (amputation OR amputee) AND (run OR running OR runner) AND (prosthesis OR prosthetics), resulting in 2060 records and 4 studies within the inclusion criteria. A methodological quality assessment was carried out using a modified version of the Downs and Black checklist. VO2peak of the amputees athletes (54 +/- 2 mL kg(-1) min(-1)) is similar (mean difference = -0.80 mL kg(-1) min(-1), confidence interval = -4.63 to 3.03) to nonamputees athletes (55 +/- 2 mL kg(-1) min(-1)). The average metabolic cost of the paired amputee athletes (4.94 +/- 1.19 J kg(-1) m(-1)) also does not differ (mean difference = 0.73 J kg(-1) m(-1), confidence interval = -0.74 to 2.20) from nonamputee runners (4.21 +/- 0.16 J kg(-1) m(-1)). The research on running in amputee and nonamputee athletes is limited. The few existing studies have limited methodological quality. The metabolic cost data from amputee athletes running with running-specific prostheses are within the range of nonamputee data.