Our aim was to develop and evaluate a new antipronation foot orthosis that addressed problems perceived by clinicians and users with existing foot orthoses. Clinicians and users were engaged to develop a user specification for the orthosis, and orthotic geometry and materials were developed using clinical reasoning. The orthotic material properties were tested and the ability of the orthosis to...

In this paper, we present the mechanical design, control algorithm, and functional evaluation of a quasi-passive compliant stance control knee-ankle-foot orthosis. The orthosis implements a spring in parallel with the knee joint during the stance phase of the gait and allows free rotation during the swing phase. The design is inspired by the moment-angle analysis of the knee joint revealing tha...

BACKGROUND Foot orthoses are widely used in the prevention and treatment of foot disorders. The aim of this study was to describe characteristics of custom-made foot orthosis prescriptions from a Australian podiatric orthotic laboratory. METHODS One thousand consecutive foot orthosis prescription forms were obtained from a commercial prescription foot orthosis laboratory located in Melbourne,...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE This study investigated the non-velocity-related effects of a 1-bar rigid ankle-foot orthosis on the gait of hemiparetic subjects, with particular emphasis on the muscle activity of the paretic lower limb. METHODS Twenty-one hemiparetic subjects who had been using an ankle-foot orthosis for equinovarus deformity for <1 week participated. Patients walked cued by a metron...

Introduction: Recently, new plates with locking screws have been developed and used for medial open-wedge high tibial osteotomy (HTO). The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare biomechanical properties of different internal fixations in open-wedge HTO using the two currently available locking plates. Methods: Eight paired fresh-frozen cadaveric lower extremities were vertically embe...

BACKGROUND There is lack of well-designed trials evaluating structural benefits of non-pharmacologic therapies in knee osteoarthritis (OA). In this parallel-group randomized controlled trial, we aim to compare the possible advantages of lateral wedge insole and acupuncture in patients with medial knee OA. METHOD Patients with grade two or three of medial knee OA were randomly allocated to gro...

Objective. Few if any prevention strategies are available for knee osteoarthritis (OA). In those with symptomatic medial OA, the contralateral knee may be at high risk of disease, and a reduction in medial loading in that knee might prevent disease or its progression there. Our aim was to determine how often persons with medial OA on 1 side had either concurrent or later medial OA on the contra...

Spatial attention improves visual perception and increases the amplitude of neural responses in visual cortex. In addition, spatial attention tasks and fMRI have been used to discover topographic visual field representations in regions outside visual cortex. We therefore hypothesized that requiring subjects to attend to a retinotopic mapping stimulus would facilitate the characterization of vis...

[Purpose] Standing and walking are impaired in stroke patients. Therefore, assisted devices are required to restore their walking abilities. The ankle foot orthosis with an external powered source is a new type of orthosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a powered ankle foot orthosis compared with unpowered orthoses in a stroke patient. [Subjects and Methods] A single ...