Major patterns of plantar flexion resistive torque during the gait cycle in healthy young adults wearing ankle foot orthoses with a plantar flexion stop: a pilot study.
Mikio Fujimoto, Shota Suzuki, Hirotaka Kuki and 3 others
PMID 31417210WHAT IT FOUND
In eight healthy adults wearing an ankle-foot orthosis that stops plantarflexion, ankle torque peaked at loading response, but a second pre-swing peak was absent in three and lower than the first in five.
Key findings
01In five participants, the second plantarflexion resistive torque peak at pre-swing was lower than the first peak at loading response.
02In three participants, the second peak was absent; their ankle dorsiflexion at swing was positive, while the five with a second peak had neutral swing.
03The normalized second peak and the second peak/first peak ratio were positively correlated with gait speed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only eight healthy young adults were measured, so the pattern may not represent patients who need an AFO. The participants wore an AFO with a plantarflexion stop even though they did not clinically need one, so the findings are a laboratory description rather than a treatment outcome. The AFO limited plantarflexion to 0 degrees and the metal shank may block metacarpophalangeal joint extension, which can affect toe-off and the second peak. The sample was too small to compare the two waveform groups statistically. No patient outcomes were measured.
Declared interests
This research was supported in part by the Research Foundation for Rehabilitation Medicine, Koshigaya, Japan. The authors declared no conflicts of interest directly relevant to the article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that an AFO improves walking or that the torque pattern is a clinical outcome in patients. The study measured only eight healthy adults wearing a plantarflexion-stop AFO, and it did not test treatment effects.