Clinical evaluation of a knee-ankle-foot-orthosis for hemiplegic patients.

The KAFO described provides hemiplegics with effective and dynamic ambulation, because of its light weight, easy application, reasonably located genucentric knee and ankle joints, together with the flexibility of thigh and lower leg cuffs and arch support. The flexibility of this orthosis permits proper torsion of thigh and lower leg cuff. After application of the KAFO, hemiplegics become able to extend or flex their hip or knee joints in a wide range of motion. As the result of these characteristics, hemiplegics can ambulate smoothly and effectively in the KAFO as described in the results and practical investigations.