The modern ankle-foot orthoses (AFO's).

There is a strong trend away from the use of metal in the fabrication of orthoses. Advanced concepts and the availability of plastics have frequently resulted in wholly new designs of lower-limb orthoses rather than part-for-part substitution of plastic components for metal components. Many centers, including our own Veterans Administration Prosthetics Center (VAPC), are replacing the ugly, noisy, and bulky doublebar metal braces with light, cosmetic plastic orthoses (Fig. 1). The versatility of plastics allows for sufficient functional variety to be incorporated in the construction of the orthoses, so that each type of orthosis can be assigned a fairly clearly demarcated area of clinical application (see Appendix). In this article each of the ankle-foot orthoses (AFO's) most frequently used at the VAPC will be individualJy-.d' cussed and its use in clinical practice outlined. %a