Published on: 24th June 2026
We’re proud to celebrate colleagues from the Prosthetic Rehabilitation Unit (PRU) at RNOH whose work has been published in the journal, following an international research collaboration with Imperial College London and partners.
This achievement highlights the contribution of RNOH colleagues Jamie Heaffey, Amy Arnott, Val Jacques-Robinson, Sherron Furtado, Alasdair Gilbertson and Professor Craig Gerrand, alongside the wider RNOH prosthetics team who supported participant recruitment and data collection.
The study explored pain and health-related quality of life in children with lower-limb absence, using data collected from prosthetic centres in the UK and Cambodia. It found that children can experience lower quality of life compared with their peers, with pain frequently affecting multiple areas of the body, including the residual limb and other joints. Importantly, the research also highlighted how factors such as prosthetic comfort and ongoing psychological support can make a meaningful difference to wellbeing and day-to-day outcomes.
By identifying these challenges and opportunities, the study provides valuable insights that will help clinicians refine rehabilitation approaches, improve prosthetic design and fitting, and ensure care is more holistic and tailored to each child’s needs. This kind of research is essential to improving long-term outcomes, supporting children and young people to live more active, comfortable and fulfilling lives.
As the UK’s leading orthopaedic centre, RNOH is at the forefront of research that drives innovation and underpins world-class patient care. This publication demonstrates the positive impact of RNOH-led research in advancing care not only within our Trust but across the UK and internationally. It is a strong example of how our teams are working collaboratively across disciplines and organisations to generate evidence that directly informs and improves clinical practice.
Photo shows (from left) members of the RNOH PRU, Paul Gandrapu, and Perry Diggins, who helped with the study, and three of the paper's multiple co-authors, Caitlin Edgar and Claudia Ghidini (Imperial), and Amy Arnott, RNOH.