Clinical evaluations of dorsiflexion assist controlled by spring ankle-foot orthosis for hemiplegic patients.

To examine the usefulness of Dorsiflexion Assist Controlled by Spring Ankle-Foot Orthoses (DACS-AFO), 5 hemiplegic patients in Brunnstrom's recovery stage IV were prescribed the DACS-AFO, after which their gait with the DACS-AFO was clinically evaluated. Clinical observation did not reveal that their gait with the DACS-AFO was better than that with an AFO which the patients usually used, except when one patient walked on a slope. No significant difference in 10 m walking time was found between when the DACS-AFO and shoehorn type AFO were used. Subjective evaluations by the patients indicated that the DACS-AFO was as good as a shoehorn type AFO in walking on flat and sloped surfaces, though its weight, noise, and appearance caused by the cylinder of the DACS-AFO were regarded as poor. In spite of the excellent biomechanical characteristics of the DACS-AFO, the patients did not adopt it. The subjects in this study had already walked well with their own shoehorn type AFO, and their selection may have been biased toward poor results. However, we did not conclude that the DACS-AFO is superior to the shoehorn type AFO for hemiplegic patients in the stage IV.