1. The influence of an ankle foot orthosis on the percentage of weight loading during standing tasks in stroke patients
- Author
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Kyoung-Don Kim, Sang-Hun Jang, and Myoung-Hyo Lee
- Subjects
Weight-bearing ability ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Stroke patient ,business.industry ,Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation ,Lateral side ,medicine.disease ,Ankle foot orthosis ,Standing Positions ,Stroke ,Random order ,Physical medicine and rehabilitation ,Ankle/foot orthosis ,Postural stability ,medicine ,Physical therapy ,Original Article ,business ,Quiet standing - Abstract
[Purpose] The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an ankle foot orthosis on weight-bearing abilities of stroke patients by comparing weight loading during performance of tasks in various standing positions on the affected side. [Subjects and Methods] This study was performed with 16 stroke patients. To measure the weight loading value and percentage of weight loading in affected lower extremities, 5 standing tasks were performed with and without an ankle foot orthosis in random order. [Results] In the rising from a chair, maintaining a standing position, and forward weight shifting tasks, the affected lower extremities showed a significantly higher percentage of weight loading with an ankle foot orthosis. In the tasks requiring weight shifting to one leg, weight shifting to the lateral side showed the best weight-bearing ability with or without an ankle foot orthosis, followed by the forward and backward weight shifting, respectively. There were statistically significant correlations in all 5 tasks with or without an ankle foot orthosis. [Conclusion] An ankle foot orthosis improves the weight-bearing ability, especially when shifting weight forward, resulting in increased weight-bearing ability in activities of daily living tasks such as quiet standing and rising from a chair. The 5 tasks in this study would be a fine assessment tool under clinical conditions to investigate the postural stability of the affected side with or without application of an ankle foot orthosis.
- Published
- 2015