The immediate effects of fitting and tuning solid ankle–foot orthoses in early stroke rehabilitation

Background:Ankle-foot orthoses are known to have a generally positive effect on gait in stroke, however the specifc type of AFO and the time point at which it is provided are highly variable in the currently available literature.Objective:The objective was to determine the immediate spatiotemporal and kinematic effect of custom-made solid ankle–foot orthoses in early stroke rehabilitation, compared to shod walking.Methods:Five male and three female participants were recruited to the study (n = 8), with a mean age of 57 (16) years who were 3.5 (3) weeks post-stroke. Each received a custom-made solid ankle–foot orthosis to a predefined set of design criteria and tuned using heel wedges to control the shank inclination angle during shod walking. Repeated spatiotemporal and three-dimensional gait measures were taken pre- and immediately post-intervention.Study design:A pre–post-test experimental study.Results:With the solid ankle–foot orthosis, walking velocity increased from 0.22 (0.2) to 0.36 (0.3) m/s (p <...