OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of in-shoe orthoses that were designed based on shape and barefoot plantar pressure in reducing the incidence of submetatarsal head plantar ulcers in people with diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, and a history of similar prior ulceration. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Single-blinded multicenter randomized controlled trial with subjects randomized to wear shape- a...

BACKGROUND The onset of non specific low back pain is associated with heavy lifting, age, female gender, and poor general health, with psychological factors being predictors of it becoming chronic. Additionally, it is thought that altered lower limb biomechanics are a contributory factor, with foot orthoses increasingly being considered as an appropriate intervention by physiotherapists and pod...

A medial linkage device called Primewalk was developed by Saitoh et al. to connect two KneeAnkle-Foot Orthoses (KAFOs). This device enabled to improve for paraplegic gait not only using orthosis but addition to functional electrical stimulation (FES). The purpose is to investigate the postural stability with the Primewalk device liked KAFOs in a paraplegic patient using FES. The complete T8 par...

then there are a wide range of devices which are foot orthoses. This range would include footwear with adaptions, ‘simple’ insoles and pads and the rigid foot orthoses produced from casts of the foot. It is the latter of these on which this article concentrates as it is these orthoses which suffer from a general lack of understanding of their principles and applications. This is not to say that...

A pronated foot posture is considered to be a factor in limitation of dorsiflexion at the first metatarsophalangeal joint during weightbearing. Customized foot orthoses are widely used to increase dorsiflexion at the first metatarsophalangeal joint in people with pronated feet. However, the effect of foot posture and customized foot orthoses on maximum first metatarsophalangeal joint dorsiflexi...

BACKGROUND Ankle-Foot-Orthoses with a ventral shell, also known as Floor Reaction Orthoses (FROs), are often used to reduce gait-related problems in children with spastic cerebral palsy (SCP), walking with excessive knee flexion. However, current evidence for the effectiveness (e.g. in terms of walking energy cost) of FROs is both limited and inconclusive. Much of this ambiguity may be due to a...

BACKGROUND A powered knee-ankle-foot orthosis was developed to provide restriction of knee flexion during stance phase and active flexion and extension of the knee during swing phase of gait. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine its effect on the physiological cost index, walking speed and the distance walked in people with poliomyelitis compared to when walking with a knee-an...

This study evaluated the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of two different types of foot orthoses used to treat plantar heel pain. Forty-eight patients were randomly assigned to receive either a functional or an accommodative orthosis. General (EuroQol) and specific (Foot Health Status Questionnaire) health-status measures were used. Data were also collected using economic question...