Selection of Significant Activities of Daily Living for the Simulation of Prosthetic Shoulder Articulations

The lack of a standardized protocol defining which are the most important motor tasks for the rehabilitation of injured upper limbs is at the basis of this study. A reasonably limited number of significant activities of daily living (ADLs) has been determined to define a basic level of functional autonomy to be reached –after the prostheses fitting– by an amputee with a bilateral shoulder disarticu-lation. The autonomy required by the patient (and the corresponding selected ADLs) inherently defines the minimal performance that the prostheses must guarantee. Indeed, the simulations of different kine-matic models of prosthetic upper limb (having shoul-der articulations with variable degrees of freedom, DoFs) when attempting to execute the trajectories corresponding to the selected ADLs can point out which prostheses are more suitable to satisfy the patient’s needs. The method of this study, which illu-strates the ADLs selection philosophy, and its prac-tical application can be better understood if analyzed together with other recent authors’ publications.