Effect of ankle foot orthoses on the gait pattern in persons with stroke

Abstract

Dorsiflexor weakness and plantarflexor spasticity is common in stroke patients and indicates a drop foot syndrome. A solution for this problem can be an ankle foot orthosis. Primary research question/aim: which systems, dimensions and protocols are commonly used to evaluate spatiotemporal, kinematic and kinetic outcome parameters during gait analysis in stroke patients? Secondary research question/aim: which spatiotemporal, kinematic and kinetic parameters are assessable and which of these parameters are most sensitive to change by means of gait analysis when an AFO is used in stroke patients?

The Vicon Nexus Camera Motion analyze system is most commonly used to measure spatiotemporal, kinematic and kinetic parameters in stroke patients. Gait is detected through reflective markers and analyzed in 3D perspective. The parameters that are most sensitive to change are: cadence, walking speed, step length, swing duration, positive- and negative ankle power, ankle dorsiflexion ROM, ankle plantar flexion ROM, knee flexion ROM, dorsiflexion moment and knee flexion moment.