Mechanism and Design Analysis of Articulated Ankle Foot Orthoses for Drop-foot

Overview

Journal ScientificWorldJournal

Publisher Wiley

Specialty Biology

Date 2014 Jun 4

PMID 24892102

Citations 28

Authors

Morshed Alam

Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhury

Azuddin Bin Mamat

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Robotic technologies are being employed increasingly in the treatment of lower limb disabilities. Individuals suffering from stroke and other neurological disorders often experience inadequate dorsiflexion during swing phase of the gait cycle due to dorsiflexor muscle weakness. This type of pathological gait, mostly known as drop-foot gait, has two major complications, foot-slap during loading response and toe-drag during swing. Ankle foot orthotic (AFO) devices are mostly prescribed to resolve these complications. Existing AFOs are designed with or without articulated joint with various motion control elements like springs, dampers, four-bar mechanism, series elastic actuator, and so forth. This paper examines various AFO designs for drop-foot, discusses the mechanism, and identifies limitations and remaining design challenges. Along with two commercially available AFOs some designs possess promising prospective to be used as daily-wear device. However, the design and mechanism of AFO must ensure compactness, light weight, low noise, and high efficiency. These entailments present significant engineering challenges to develop a new design with wide consumer adoption.

Citing Articles

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Design and Evaluation of Hybrid Passive Spring Damper Ankle Foot Orthosis for Gait Performance in Drop Foot Patients: A Feasibility Study.

Saeedi H, Pourhoseingholi E J Biomed Phys Eng. 2023; 13(4):377-382.

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Advances on mechanical designs for assistive ankle-foot orthoses.

Lora-Millan J, Nabipour M, van Asseldonk E, Bayon C Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023; 11:1188685.

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Comparison between a novel helical and a posterior ankle-foot orthosis on gait in people with unilateral foot drop: a randomised crossover trial.

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