Abstract
(1) Background: ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) is the most commonly prescribed orthosis to patients with foot drop, and ankle and foot problems. In this study, we aimed to review the commonly used types of AFO and introduce the recent development of AFO. (2) Methods: narrative review. (3) Results: AFO prevents the foot from being dragged, provides a clearance between the foot and the ground in the swinging phase of gait, and maintains a stable posture by allowing heel contact with the ground during the stance phase. In clinical practice, the most commonly used AFO include plastic AFO, walking boot, UD-Flex, and carbon fiber AFO. In addition, for compensating the demerits of these conventional AFOs, new types of AFOs, including AF Servo, TurboMed, three-dimensionally printed AFO, and AFO made from kenaf composites, were developed. (4) Conclusions: we think that our review can guide clinicians in selecting and prescribing the appropriate AFO for each patient in accordance with their specific physical conditions.
Highlights
Ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) is a commonly used orthosis in patients having weakness in the ankle dorsiflexor or plantarflexor muscles due to several disorders such as stroke, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, and peripheral nerve injury
The 3D printed AFO is a custom orthosis made by additive manufacturing, which is a method of manufacturing a solid structure by stacking materials in layers (Figure 4C)
The AFO, which is produced by 3D printers, can use software to make fine adjustments to bone protrusions or wounds, thereby making it possible to produce orthoses that meet the needs of patients, which is almost impossible to materialize using traditional processes [53]
Summary
Ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) is a commonly used orthosis in patients having weakness in the ankle dorsiflexor or plantarflexor muscles due to several disorders such as stroke, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, and peripheral nerve injury. Solid AFO (SAFO) is predominantly applied to completely limit the ankle joint movement in patients with foot drop, weak dorsiflexion and/or plantarflexion, ligament injury about the ankle, mild knee instability, and valgus/varus [16,17]. The patellar tendon bearing AFO (PTB-AFO), unlike other PAFOs, has an additional anterior shell to support weight with the patellar tendon, which helps to reduce the weight load on the heel, ankle, and sole, and reduces pain in each of the mentioned areas (Figure 1D) [25,26] This is used in cases that require the pressure on the foot to be minimized, such as ulcers, calcanectomy, plantar skin graft, severe foot/ankle trauma, and fractures. This signifies that the WB group demonstrated an outstanding degree of recovery
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