BACKGROUND In post-stroke hemiparetic subjects, solid polypropylene ankle-foot-orthoses are commonly prescribed to assist in foot clearance during swing while bracing the ankle during stance. Mobility demands, such as changing walking speed and direction, are accomplished by accelerating or decelerating the body and maintaining dynamic balance. Previous studies have shown that the ankle plantar...

objectives: ankle foot orthoses (afos) are widely utilized to improve walking ability in hemiplegic patients. the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of rocker bar ankle foot orthosis (rafo) on functional mobility in post-stroke hemiplegic patients. methods: fifteen hemiplegic patients (men and women) who were at least 6-months post-stroke and able to walk without assistive device for at...

BACKGROUND Three-dimensional laser scanning has been used for patient measurement for cranial helmets and spinal braces. Ankle-foot orthoses are commonly prescribed for children with orthopaedic conditions. This trial sought to compare ankle-foot orthoses produced by laser scanning or traditional plaster casting. OBJECTIVES Assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of using laser scannin...

The International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics Community (i-FAB) is an international collaborative activity which will have an important impact on the foot and ankle biomechanics community. It was launched on July 2nd 2007 at the foot and ankle session of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) meeting in Taipei, Taiwan. i-FAB is driven by the desire to improve our understanding of foot ...

The purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Orthopaedic In-Training Examination's (OITE's) questions, question sources, and resident performance over the course of residency training.The authors analyzed all OITE questions pertaining to foot and ankle surgery between 2006 and 2010. Recorded data included the topic and area tested, imaging modality used, tested treat...

BACKGROUND/METHODOLOGY Ankle arthrodesis is one popular surgical treatment for ankle arthritis, chronic instability, and degenerative deformity. However, complications such as foot pain, joint arthritis, and bone fracture may cause patients to suffer other problems. Understanding the internal biomechanics of the foot is critical for assessing the effectiveness of ankle arthrodesis and provides ...

The foot and ankle are critical components in our ability to ambulate. Injuries to either can significantly interfere with a patient's ability to carry out normal activities. In severe cases, they can be devastating to a patient's independence. Careful examination of the foot and ankle using established mechanical tests, along with understanding of the anatomy of the complex,is needed to confir...

OBJECTIVE To review the literature that provides information to assist in analyzing the role of the foot in acute and chronic lateral ankle injury. DATA SOURCES We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, Institute for Scientific Information's Web of Science, and SPORT Discus from 1965-2005 using the terms lateral, ankle, ligament, injury, risk factors, foot, subtalar joint, talocrural joint, gait analysis,...

Objectives: This paper describes further improvement and preliminarily evaluation of a novel viscoelastic ankle-foot prosthesis prototype. The objective was to control the ankle hysteresis at slow and normal walking speeds. Methods: Inspired by the ankle biomechanics, in which the hysteresis differs based on the gait speeds, a manually damping control mechanism imbedded in the prosthesis for...

BACKGROUND There are a wide variety of ankle foot orthoses used in clinical practice which are characterised by their design, the material used and the stiffness of that material. Changing any of these three components will alter the effect of the ankle foot orthosis on gait. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this article is to provide an overview on the available research on ankle foot orthosis-foot...