We constructed a powered ankle-foot orthosis for human walking with a novel myoelectric controller. The orthosis included a carbon fiber and polypropylene shell, a metal hinge joint, and two artificial pneumatic muscles. Soleus electromyography (EMG) activated the artificial plantar flexor and inhibited the artificial dorsiflexor. Tibialis anterior EMG activated the artificial dorsiflexor. We c...

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 an assistive device for...

For paraplegics, two major disadvantages of hip-knee-ankle-foot orthotic systems that have a medial single hip joint are the short stride and horizontal rotation of the pelvis. The authors consider the pelvic rotation is caused by two factors; one is the lack of a mechanism to assist hip flexion, and the other is fixed ankle joints that cause instability when the step length becomes longer. Use...

BACKGROUND The design of foot and ankle orthoses is currently limited by the methods used to fabricate the devices, particularly in terms of geometric freedom and potential to include innovative new features. Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, where objects are constructed via a series of sub-millimetre layers of a substrate material, may present the opportunity to overcome these limitat...

[Purpose] This study aimed to analyze the effect of heel pads in ankle-foot orthoses on dynamic motion aspects of gait in stroke patients from the viewpoint of energy conversion efficiency. [Subjects] Fourteen chronic stroke patients who were ambulatory and had lower extremity motor function categorized as Brunnstrom stage IV participated in the study. [Methods] A three-dimensional motion analy...

BACKGROUND: Balance impairment is a contributing factor to falls. Falls are leading cause of injury and death in older adults. An ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) device that can be prescribed as an intervention help individuals with compromised balance ambulate safely.
 OBJECTIVE: The purpose this review was investigate the role orthoses have affecting community-dwelling adults.
 METHODOLOG...

Three-dimensional printed ankle-foot orthoses (AFO) have been used in stroke patients recently, but there was little evidence of gait improvement. Here, we designed a novel customized AFO with energy storage, named Energy-Storage 3D Printed Ankle-Foot Orthosis (ESP-AFO), and investigated its effects on improvement patients. 12 survivors were recruited (9 females/3 males, age: 55.58 ± 5.9 y/o). ...

Long-leg bracing affords ambulatory potential and helps reduce the incidence of deformity in patients with paralysis or weakness caused by lesions of the spinal cord. The conventional long-leg brace or knee-ankle orthosis (KAO) consists of double metal uprights, drop locks or bail locks at the knee, double action ankle joints with anterior and posterior pin stops, metal stirrup, and steel shank...

An active orthosis was designed to support users with reduced muscle strength with an additional knee joint torque to improve the independency in everyday activities. In two persons the hypothesis was tested that less muscle activity is necessary when standing up with the active support of a motorized orthosis. The orthosis is a custom-made knee-ankle-foot orthosis and is equipped with a series...