Effect of ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) on body sway and walking capacity of hemiparetic stroke patients.

Body sway, the total length of the sway of the center of foot pressure (CFP) and maximum walking speed were examined with and without AFO in eight post-stroke hemiparetic patients. Without AFO, the CFP moved towards the non-affected limb and the body sway was large. Wearing AFO, the CFP shifted to the midposition and the body sway became small. Without AFO, the time to walk the prescribed distance was longer, the cadence slower and the steps shorter than with AFO. However, there was no correlation between the improvements in body sway and walking capacity. The AFO compensated only for the instability of the ankle joint but not for the dysfunction of the central nervous system after the stroke.