| Objective:To observe the effects of the ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) on the recovery of the walking capacity of patients with stroke hemiplegia.Methods:We randomly selected 32 cases of chronic stroke hemiparesis.After using 50S1 AFO for 7 days,we adopted 3-D gait analysis system on these patients to evaluate and contrast the gait parameters in the spatial domain and time domain before and after using AFO.Results:After using AFO for 7 days,we observed that one of the spatial parameters,the average stride width of both injured and uninjured sides was decreased significantly (P<0.05).On the contrary,the average stride length,pace length and step angle of both injured and uninjured sides were increased dramatically (P<0.05).The time domain parameters,including stride pace,stride frequency and double-support status of both injured and uninjured sides were raised significantly (P<0.01).The single-support status and sway status of injured sides were raised,and those of the uninjured sides declined (P<0.01).Conclusion:Adopting AFO on hemiplegic patients can improve their stride stability,and increase their stride pace and stride frequency significantly.The improvement took place immediately after wearing AFO. |
