Here are the responses to my Fillauer KO question. Thank you to everyone
who responded. You’ve given me a lot to think about.
Stacey Richardson, CO
Troy, MI
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Stacey Richardson
I’m curious to know if anyone out there has used Fillauer’s swing phase
lock knee orthosis and what your impressions are (patient compliance, brace
performance, compared to GRAFO or stance control KAFO, etc.). Thanks in
advance for the feedback.
Stacey Richardson, CO, Troy, MI
Rod OConor
It worked fine on me and everyone with no problems who tried it on. But on
the patient, not so good. Inconsistent release and swing thru.. Eventually
tossed it aside and remade her a new KAFO.
rod o’connor, cpo
Kevin Hill
Stacey,
I have used it before a couple of times after having Fillauer fabricate
them for me. They do a very nice job on the fab and the orthosis is very
functional and performs as advertised. Having said that I will warn you
that strict compliance to the range of motion requirements is absolutely
critical. If there is any tightness of the hamstrings the function is
dramatically affected. Also, patients have to be willing to endure the
learning curve of weight shift and step length in order to have a smooth
gait. I personally will not offer it to a patient who is at the edge of
the envelope in terms of clinical indications and will refuse it outright
if I feel they are the least bit non-compliant.
Kevin Hill, BS, CPO/LPO
Clinic Manager, Hanger Clinic
Rudy Parada
Stacey,I had a polio patient use it for about 6months. He was very pleased
with the ability to get knee flexion, especially coming off a drop locked
KAFO but he reported taking 99 good steps and one bad step that caused him
to fall. Eventually he just use it for exercise in even terrain and went
back to a locked KAFO for daily wear when he didn’t want to think if his
leg was going to give out or not. Good luck
Rudy Parada CPO
SETH LOCKE
I am a fan of this orthotis knee joint and like its simplicity and size. It
functions well and is reliable. Patient selection is always the key. Look
at their criteria.
Seth Locke CPO (c)
[email protected]
I have used it, and I was not terribly thrilled with it. I like the theory
of a stance lock without the need for ankle joints, but I had some
durability issues. The joint functions well. My problem with it was the
lock cable mechanism. If the patient has any flexion moment at all on the
joint when they try to operate the lock cable, it won’t function. The
cable itself is fairly thin, so the end result is that it shears off inside
the joint. This means labor and time for you to break down the joint and
replace the cable, then to give the patient a stern warning to be more
careful. I really want to like the joint, but the fragile cable has been a
killer for me and I’ve been avoiding the joint.
Joel Smith, CPO
