Trans-femoral, or above the knee amputation is the second most common type of amputation, and can occur due to a circulatory disease, an accident or a birth defect. Surgeons attempt to preserve as much of the muscle mass as possible during the amputation operation, but lower body strength, balance and mobility will still be drastically impaired. In order to maintain your levels of strength and conditioning, it's important that you continue training both your lower and upper body.
Upper Body Exercises
Above the knee amputations cause your lower body to have to generate between 60 and 100 percent more effort than before. It's vital that you improve your strength and muscular endurance in your upper body to take some of the strain off your legs. Start your workout with two upper-body horizontal exercises performed back to back, such as chest presses and seated rows, done for four sets of 12 to 15 repetitions each. Then do two exercises in the vertical plane -- shoulder presses and pull downs, for instance, for the same number of sets and reps.
Core Training
Core training is also important, as it aids in improving your balance. Perform two exercises in every session, such as reverse crunches, planks or leg raises. These may be tough to begin with, so start off slowly, and increase the number of reps or the duration of the exercises gradually. Aim to improve your performance every session.
Lower Body
Your standing leg has to deal with a lot of extra weight, so strengthening it should be a top priority. Start slowly, and perform simple exercises lying down using both legs, such as hip extensions on your back and side, and hip abductions. Once you are comfortable with performing these, try some other exercises on your standing leg, such as unilateral leg extensions, leg presses and pistols.
Considerations
When you start training after your operation, you may wish to stick to machine exercises until you are more confident with your balance and lower body strength, then move on to free-weight training. In order to improve both your strength and conditioning, try to increase the amount of weight or the number of reps you do every session, and keep your rest periods between exercises to no longer than a minute. Train two to three times per week for around an hour each session, and gradually build up the intensity.
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