These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Effect of ankle-foot orthosis alignment and foot-plate length on the gait of adults with poststroke hemiplegia.
    Author: Fatone S, Gard SA, Malas BS.
    Journal: Arch Phys Med Rehabil; 2009 May; 90(5):810-8. PubMed ID: 19406301.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) alignment and foot-plate length on sagittal plane knee kinematics and kinetics during gait in adults with poststroke hemiplegia. DESIGN: Repeated measures, quasi-experimental study. SETTING: Motion analysis laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Volunteer sample of adults with poststroke hemiplegia (n=16) and able-bodied adults (n=12) of similar age. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects with hemiplegia were measured walking with standardized footwear in 4 conditions: (1) no AFO (shoes only); (2) articulated AFO with 90 degrees plantar flexion stop and full-length foot-plate-conventionally aligned AFO (CAFO); (3) the same AFO realigned with the tibia vertical in the shoe-heel-height compensated AFO (HHCAFO); and (4) the same AFO (tibia vertical) with 3/4 length foot-plate-3/4 AFO. Gait of able-bodied control subjects was measured on a single occasion to provide a normal reference. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sagittal plane ankle and knee kinematics and kinetics. RESULTS: In adults with hemiplegia, walking speed was unaffected by the different conditions (P=.095). Compared with the no AFO condition, all AFOs decreased plantar flexion at initial contact and mid-swing (P<.001) and changed the peak knee moment in early stance from flexor to extensor (P<.000). Both AFOs with full-length foot-plates significantly increased the peak stance phase plantar flexor moment compared with no AFO and resulted in a peak knee extensor moment in early stance that was significantly greater than control subjects, whereas the AFO with three-quarter length foot-plate resulted in ankle dorsiflexion during stance and swing that was significantly less than control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that when an articulated AFO is to be used, a full-length foot-plate in conjunction with a plantar flexion stop may be considered to improve early stance knee moments for people with poststroke hemiplegia.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]