Traditionally, children who need a prosthetic knee joint are not provided with one in their first prosthesis. An alternative Early Knee protocol provides a flexing knee in the first prosthesis. The purpose of this multi-site study was to examine kinematic outcomes during walking in separate groups of young children in an Early prosthetic knee prescription protocol (EK) versus a traditional prosthetic knee protocol (TK), along with a population of children without lower limb amputations. Eighteen children aged 12 months to five years were recruited for this study at two clinical sites, six in each of the three groups. Children in the two prosthesis groups had unilateral limb loss and had been treated at one site with the TK protocol or at another with the EK protocol. All children walked at self-selected speed while kinematic data were collected using similar Vicon motion analysis systems. Data include joint angles, extrema, and ranges of motion used for the determination of temporal and spatial gait parameters and swing-phase clearance adaptations. 

Data were collected using two similar Vicon 3-D motion analysis systems. Subjects walked barefoot at self-selected speeds on smooth, level, laboratory floors. Cameras tracked markers in a standard Vicon Plug-In-Gait lower body model. Data were collected and processed using Vicon Nexus 2.0.