Evaluation of the effect of ankle-foot orthosis use on balance and mobility in hemiparetic stroke patients

Of course the AFO makes you more mobile but at the cost of recovering your ankle muscles.
http://www.naric.com/research/rehab/record.cfm?search=2&type=all&criteria=J61762&phrase=no&rec=116429
Author(s): Dogan, Asuman; Mengulluoglu, Munire; Ozgirgin, Nese.
Publication Year: 2011.
Number of Pages: 7.
Abstract: Study evaluated the effect of ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) use on balance and mobility in hemiparetic stroke patients. Fifty-one hemiplegic patients who had completed the rehabilitation program were included in the study. Subjects were assessed during the Ashburn walking and stair test, the time Up & Go test, the Berg Balance Scale, and the mobility subscale of the Stroke Rehabilitation Assessment of Movement in the presence and absence of the AFO. The patients were asked about their evaluations of AFOs in terms of its desirability/undesirability. All the subjects showed improvements in gait speed, balance and mobility with AFO use. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the durations of stair climbing with or without AFO; 45.1 percent of the subjects indicated that their gait speed increased; 35.3 percent indicated that they step on more confidently and 60.8 percent indicated that they consider AFO unaesthetic. It was determined that the use of an AFO resulted in improvements in both balance and ambulation activities of hemiparetic patients.
Descriptor Terms: ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY, EQUILIBRIUM, HEMIPLEGIA, MOBILITY, ORTHOTICS, STROKE.