Short-term effect of a carbon fiber custom dynamic orthosis and integrated rehabilitation on self-reported physical function, pain, speed, and agility in civilians.

Abstract

Ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are widely used to restore mobility and reduce pain in individuals with lower extremity pain and disability. The use of a carbon fiber custom dynamic orthosis (CDO) with integrated physical training and psychosocial intervention has been shown to improve outcomes in a military setting, but civilian data are limited. To use existing clinical data to evaluate the initial effectiveness of an integrated CDO and rehabilitative program and identify baseline characteristics that impact patient response to the intervention. Retrospective cohort. Records of 131 adult patients who received a CDO and device specific training were reviewed. Patient-reported measures of pain and lower extremity function and physical measurements of walking and agility were extracted at baseline and on training completion. A majority of patients reported improved or greatly improved physical function (92%), maximum pain (69%), and typical pain (55%) and experienced improved or greatly improved walking speed (92%) and agility (52%) irrespective of age and sex. Regression models for examining short-term improvement in pain and physical function accounted for 52% (p < 0.001) and 26% (p < 0.001) of the outcome variance, respectively. Improvement in typical pain was influenced by baseline typical and maximum pain, and functional improvement was influenced by sex and baseline physical function. Most patients (92.4%) reported a positive initial outcome after intervention as measured using patient-reported and objective measures.