A recent review attempted to evaluate the efficacy of different AFO designs and their effects on the gait parameters of individuals with hemiplegic stroke. A total of 27 articles were included in the final evaluation. The reviewers found that all types of AFOs had positive effects on ankle kinematic in the first rocker and swing phases, but not on knee kinematics in the swing phase, hip kinematics, or the third rocker function. All trials, except two, assessed immediate or short-term effects only. The review also states that the effects of long-term usage and comparison among the different types of AFOs need to be evaluated.
According to the article, which was published March 16 in Gait & Posture, the articulated passive AFO compared with the nonarticulated passive AFO had better effects on some aspects of the gait among this population, but more investigation is needed in this area.
The search strategy was based on the population, intervention, comparison, outcome (PICO) method. The search was performed in PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases.
