Modern approaches to comprehensive rehabilitation of individuals with lower limb amputations due to combat trauma: analysis of the patent landscape and promising directions

Lower limb amputations due to combat trauma, primarily mine-blast wounds, are one of the most severe injury categories, requiring the development and implementation of comprehensive, multi-stage rehabilitation programs.

This rewiew aimed to analyze the patent landscape and current scientific and medical approaches to the rehabilitation of patients with lower limb amputations due to combat injury in order to identify the most promising directions and provide a rationale for developing a full-cycle rehabilitation model.

We analyzed patent documentation (the databases of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property, the Eurasian Patent Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Google Patents, and lens.org) and scientific and medical publications (PubMed, eLibrary, Cyberleninka) for the period 2000–2026. The study focused on methods and devices used at all rehabilitation stages: stump preparation for prosthetic fitting, prosthetic rehabilitation, non-pharmacological (physical) methods, and psychopharmacological interventions.

The analysis identified three key areas of patenting and scientific development. The first involves technologies aimed at preparing the stump for prosthetic fitting and improving prosthetic components. Identified developments address surgical preparation of the bone stump, custom socket fabrication using 3D printing and pressure sensors, and the creation of high-function prosthetic modules, including microprocessor-controlled knee joints and foot prostheses with improved biomechanics. The second area comprises non-pharmacological technologies, including the use of virtual reality with biofeedback for motor pattern restoration and phantom pain relief, mirror therapy, brain–computer interfaces, and a wide range of training devices for weight-bearing and maneuverability training. The third area covers methods for relieving post-amputation pain syndrome, where in addition to traditional pharmacotherapy, multimodal approaches are being actively developed using botulinum toxin therapy, neuromodulation, and psychotherapeutic techniques. Additionally, we performed a comparative analysis of international and Russian clinical guidelines and identified common principles and distinguishing features of the approaches.

The analysis shows that the rehabilitation of patients with combat-related lower limb amputations is moving toward personalized and high-tech solutions. The most promising directions include the development of innovative methods for stump preparation with objective load monitoring, the creation of smart prostheses with adaptive control, the implementation of immersive technologies and brain–computer interfaces for neurorehabilitation, and the standardization of full-cycle rehabilitation protocols.