ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:Most of the traumatic brain injury and stroke survivors have foot drop and varus deformity, that need to be treated with ankle-foot orthosis. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the advantages and effect of early application of front-ankle-foot orthosis on the walking function of the patients with hemiplegia after stroke. METHODS:The clinical data of 54 patients with hemiplegia after stroke treated in the Changshu No. 2 People’s Hospital from June 2008 to October 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients treated with front-ankle-foot orthosis were the front group (n=28), and the patients treated with rear-ankle-foot orthosis were the rear group (n=26). Al the patients received 10 m maximum walking speed test, and the recovery of walking function of the patients in two groups were observed daily. RESUTLS AND CONCLUSION:There were no patients exited and dead in the observation period. The activities of daily living Barthel index in the front-ankle-foot orthoses group (60.0±12.9) was significantly higher than that in the rear-ankle-foot orthoses group (59.1±10.9), and there was no significant difference in the activities of daily living Barthel index between two groups (P>0.05). For the 10 m maximum walking speed test, the walking speed of (39.6±11.6) m/min in the front-ankle-foot orthosis group was significantly faster than that of (33.0±12.4) m/min in the rear-ankle-foot orthosis group (P<0.05). Front-ankle-foot orthosis is more appropriate for patients with hemiplegia after stroke to improve the walking speed.