BACKGROUND Immobilization after tendon transfers has been the conventional postoperative management. Several recent studies suggest early mobilization does not increase tendon pullout. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES To confirm those studies we determined whether when compared with immobilization early active mobilization after a tendon transfer for foot-drop correction would (1) have a similar low rate o...

BACKGROUND Long-term use of a foot-drop stimulator applying functional electrical stimulation (FES) to the common peroneal nerve improves walking performance even when the stimulator is off. This "therapeutic" effect might result from neuroplastic changes. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of long-term use of a foot-drop stimulator on residual corticospinal connections in people with central ...

OBJECTIVE The aims of this study were: (i) to compare the neuro-prosthetic effect of implantable peroneal nerve stimulation to the orthotic effect of a standard of care intervention (no device, shoe or ankle foot orthosis) on walking, as assessed by spatiotemporal parameters; and (ii) to examine whether there is evidence of an enhanced lower-limb flexion reflex with peroneal nerve stimulation a...

UNLABELLED Common peroneal nerve palsy has been reported to be the most frequent lower extremity palsy characterized by a supinated equinovarus foot deformity and foot drop. Dynamic tendon transposition represents the gold standard for surgical restoration of dorsiflexion of a permanently paralyzed foot. Between 1998 and 2005, we operated on a selected series of 16 patients with traumatic compl...

BACKGROUND Chronic ankle instability has been associated with altered joint kinematics at the ankle, knee and hip. However, no studies have investigated possible kinematic deviations at more distal segments of the foot. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if subjects with ankle instability and copers show altered foot and ankle kinematics and altered kinetics during a landing task when co...

Two computer-controlled devices for leg rehabilitation are presented: 1) an external knee prosthesis for trans-femoral amputees; and 2) a force-controllable ankle-foot orthosis to assist individuals suffering from drop-foot, a gait pathology resulting from muscle weakness in ankle dorsiflexors. Here muscle-like actuators and biologically-inspired control schemes are employed to enhance patient ...

BACKGROUND The use of knee-ankle-foot orthoses with drop locked knee joints produces some limitations for walking in subjects with quadriceps muscle weakness. The development of stance control orthoses can potentially improve their functionality. OBJECTIVES The aim of this review was to compare the evidence of the effect of stance control orthoses to knee-ankle-foot orthoses with drop locked ...

PURPOSE Foot drop is generally a consequence of common peroneal or sciatic nerve injury or L5 radiculopathy but rarely, it can be a manifestation of conversion disorder. CASE REPORT A 24-year-old male presented with a foot drop on left side that developed overnight. He had difficulty walking with a trunk tilt towards right side and numbness in left leg up to mid-thigh. The initial diagnosis b...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate patients' perceptions of the benefits and problems associated with using the ActiGait implanted drop-foot stimulator. METHOD Thirteen participants who had suffered a stroke at least 6 months prior to recruitment, had a drop-foot that affected walking and had taken part in a trial in which an ActiGait drop-foot stimulator had been implanted, completed a postal questionnai...

This study investigated the clinical feasibility of combining the electromechanical gait trainer Lokomat with functional electrical therapy (LokoFET), stimulating the common peroneal nerve during the swing phase of the gait cycle to correct foot drop as an integrated part of gait therapy. Five patients with different acquired brain injuries trained with LokoFET 2-3 times a week for 3-4 weeks. P...