Table 5.

Themes and Categories

Theme	Categories	Example Quotes
Individual Characteristics	Health Attributes	“With a hip disartic, you can barely get your leg to kick out. Pants are like a sail, and you kind of go and [the wind] literally holds my leg from swinging through.” FG1.6 “Not too long ago found out I have heart failure. So that’s a lot of problem with why I can’t walk or run long distances. If I didn’t have the heart failure, I would probably get running legs and run.”PT2.7
	Personal Attributes	“I can’t get nothing done if I’m not motivated.”PT2.9 “If I feel like I can trust the leg or socket, then as far as being mobile, I feel like I can do… anything.”PT1.2
Forms of Movement	Continuous Motions	“My first priority is always know where I’m stepping. [Amputees] tend to walk a little slower and damn straight. If we don’t, we find [we fall] more often than we like to claim.”PT4.1 “It just seems to me like I’m just working hard trying to walk.”PT1.5
	Postural Changes	“Getting up and getting down requires some effort.”PT4.1 “What did we have before [our amputations] that we don’t have now? With me, one of the things would be crouching and bending. Give me that back where I can bend over and grab something off the floor, kneel down. [I] can’t crouch or knee without [losing my balance]. It’s weird trying to keep yourself balanced trying to bend over straight.”PT2.7
Environmental Situations	Terrain	“I don’t like to walk in pea gravel. I feel like I’m going to fall.”PT2.4 “I love the beach, but stepping onto sand, you lose your balance so quickly.”PT3.5
	Distance and Time	“My stump is tender and the longer I walk, [the more] I have to stop, rest a little bit and then walk on.”PT4.8 “I can walk for a long time… but on bad days… you may not want to walk anymore. You might want to get a wheelchair.”PT3.9
	Obstacles	“Walking in crowds is scary sometimes. [My daughter] runs interference for me so that I don’t have to worry about tripping because people with two legs aren’t paying any attention. They’ll stop right in front of you and [I] have a hard time stopping [quickly].”PT1.4 “I always seem to step over things [okay], you know, but I do it on purpose. Sometimes I use my left leg, my prosthetic leg, to go over which is not the right thing [to do].”PT3.1
	Attentional Demands	“Most of the time when I’m talking, I keep my eyes on the ground… I have to look up and down [to] make sure I don’t trip and fall.”PT4.3 “I do walking tours in [tine city]. When pointing out tall buildings, I have to slow down if I’m looking up. Or stop.”PT4.10
	External Loads	“My balance is bad anyway… but if I’m carrying anything, I’m always extra careful.”PT1.5 “Heavy doors are a pain for some reason. They didn’t used to be.”PT2.6
	Ambient Conditions	“You are looking for something that is well lit. You want to pick the path that you can see.”PT4.1 “I think darkness is particularly difficult. I wouldn’t want to walk into a dark room with a bunch of clothes on the floor and stuff like that. That wouldn’t turn out too well.” PT2.1