Plastic joints for orthoses have more advantages than metal joints. They are lightweight, noiseless comfortable to use, rust proof, corrosion free, and radiolucent. Two types of plastic joints were developed by the authors, one for the ankle joint and the other for the knee joint, elbow joint or hip joint. Polypropylene was chosen as the joint material because of its appropriate flexibility and...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the short-term clinical efficacy of in-shoe foot orthoses over a wait-and-see policy in the treatment of anterior knee pain (AKP) and evaluate the ability of foot posture measures to predict outcome. DESIGN Single-blind, randomised control trial. PARTICIPANTS Forty participants (18-40 years) with clinically diagnosed AKP of greater than 6-week duration, who had not...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of weakness of the bilateral triceps surae muscles-the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles-in astasia without abasia and whether compensating for muscle weakness with ankle-foot orthoses improves this disability. DESIGN Case-control study of clinical findings and before and after trial of ankle-foot orthoses. SETTING Clinics of the departments of rehabilitatio...

in this study, 10 normal volunteers and 5 sports-trained paraplegics with lesions between t6 and l2 were studied whilst walking with axillary crutches and knee-anlde-foot orthoses. all subjects walked at their preferred speed on a figureof- eight track. normal subjects also walked at slower and faster speeds. oxygen consumption, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion were measured. in norm...

PURPOSE Excessive movements during walking have been observed by gait analysis in children with arthrogryposis (AMC) using orthoses compared to children using only shoes. The aim of this study was to evaluate energy expenditure and functional exercise capacity in children with AMC. METHODS Twenty-four children with AMC and 25 typically developing (TD) children underwent oxygen measurement and...

For initial gait training with the paraplegic patient, a lower extremity telescoping orthosis has been developed. This brace eliminates the time-consuming fabrication, considerable weight, and cumbersome use of conventional knee-ankle-foot orthoses and is easily adjustable to a wide range of patients. Particularly during the early phase of rehabilitation, this brace offers significant advantage...

Infantile tibia vara (ITV) is an acquired form of tibial deformity associated with tibial varus and internal torsion. As there is currently insufficient data available on the effects of orthotics on gait parameters, this study aimed to document the influence of orthosis on walking. A male infant with bilateral tibia vara used orthoses for five months. Gait evaluations were performed pre- and po...

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) may be used in rehabilitation and assistance of people with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). One significant application is facilitating physical exercise, mainly when combining FES mechanical platforms, such as tricycles. However, there are still technical challenges cycling protocols, improving control performance. Here we show how passive elements knee orthos...