Patent ID: 8323353

Claim:
A method for using a prosthetic socket by a patient having a limb that has been amputated and has an outer circumference along an outer surface of the limb and having an at rest radius measured from a central longitudinal axis of the limb, wherein the prosthetic socket comprises a first portion for contacting the limb and having a plurality of compression portions and a plurality of relief portions, wherein the method comprises: (i) fitting the first portion of the prosthetic socket over the limb; (ii) compressing portions of the outer circumference of the limb to a radius that is reduced by at least twenty percent from the at rest radius using the plurality of compression portions of the first portion of the prosthetic socket; and (iii) causing excess portions of the limb to flow outward at the plurality of relief portions of the first portion of the prosthetic socket in response to the compressing of the portions of the outer circumference of the limb, so that the excess portions of the limb bulge outwardly without restriction away from the plurality of compression portions, wherein the plurality of compression portions is no less than three compression portions and no more than four compression portions and is disposed circumferentially around the limb when the first portion of the prosthetic socket is disposed over the limb, wherein each of the plurality of compression portions has a generally longitudinal shape and is disposed longitudinally along the direction of the central longitudinal axis of the limb when the first portion of the prosthetic socket is disposed over the limb, and wherein each of the plurality of compression portions is comprised of a strut, wherein each of the plurality of relief portions is a window disposed between two of the struts, and wherein the excess portions of the limb bulge outwardly through the windows and beyond the first portion of the prosthetic socket in response to the compressing of the portions of the outer circumference of the limb.