They are worn on amputation stumps for a number of reasons.

Amputation stumps can be sensitive to cold or heat, particularly as their capacity to regulate tissue congestion is limited.

Suppressed coprophilia, since amputation stumps may be interpreted as resembling stools.

The skin of amputation stumps can be very sensitive to allergic, chemical or mechanical irritation and thus may have to be protected.

Elephantiasis affects mainly the lower extremities, while the ears, mucous membranes, and amputation stumps are affected less frequently.

This first explanation (by Krafft-Ebing in his 1886 Psychopathia Sexualis) assumed that amputation stumps resembled phalli and were thus seen as a safe alternative by latent homosexuals.

This procedure involves separation of the ulna and radius bones in order to convert a below-elbow amputation stump into a "sensory forceps" that receives its strength from the pronator teres muscle.