Prosthetic-liner project

According to Strathclyde University, approximately half of the 62,000 people living with limb loss in the UK are affected by skin infections or irritation thought to be caused by bacteria in the prosthetic liners that separate a prosthetic limb from the skin.

However, a clinical scientist, microbiologists, mathematicians, physicists and engineers from the universities are joining forces to help reduce the scale of the problem. The team will examine the bacterial and other microbial populations in prosthetic liners with the long-term aim of designing new technologies, including antimicrobial lining materials.

The research team is being led by Dr Rebecca Lunn of the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Civil Engineering, in close collaboration with Dr Margrit Meier of Strathclyde’s National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics.

Dr Lunn said: ’At the moment, sockets are designed for structural performance and to stop chaffing, but this tight connection between the prosthesis and the limb provides ideal conditions for bacterial growth.’