An AFO drop foot brace is a device which is used to treat a medical condition labeled as drop foot; AFO is short for ankle foot orthosis.
Drop foot is a disorder where a person is unable to or has difficulty elevating their foot at the ankle joint. This can make walking complicated for those who endure drop foot, as the toes can often drag the ground, that can result in the patient stumbling or becoming unstable on their feet. Patients with drop foot make up for the situation through utilizing the muscles in their hip to pick the foot up above the floor, this is known as a step page gait, or alternatively they may make up through swinging the leg to the outside so that the foot clears the ground, that is termed as circumduction.
As a remedy for drop foot, several patients utilize a drop foot brace, also recognized as an ankle foot orthosis (AFO) to help patients to possess a much more normal gait. There are several different types of braces used in the treatment of drop foot, the kind of brace used will be based upon a patients own particular condition. In therapy, an AFO can be employed in several different solutions to help the wearer; in order to have a much better knowledge of how a drop foot brace works a person must have an understanding of the movement in the ankle and foot areas.
Basically, there are two standard motions that take place at the ankle joint, one is labeled as dorsiflexion and the other is known as plantarflexion. Dorsiflexion is the movement which the ankle does to make the foot point up; plantarflexion is the movement which the ankle does to help make the toes point down. Dorsiflexion is the movement that must occur once the foot lifts off the floor in order to keep a person from dragging their toes on the ground; individuals who suffer from drop foot normally are suffering from an incomplete or total weakness of the muscles which supply the dorsiflex for the foot at the ankle.
One type of drop foot brace or AFO which is employed in a few instances of drop foot is a brace that is known as short leg AFO with a fixed hinge (no flexing at ankle joint). This kind of AFO is lightweight and quickly suits a patients shoes. This AFO affords excellent control over the foot for the patient and is useful for people who go through drop foot and also suffer from a very flat foot. A short leg AFO holds the foot at a ninety-degree angle to the leg and can likewise help keep unwanted rotation of the foot from happening. This type of undesired rotation can frequently affect individuals who have sustained a stroke or Charcot-Marie Tooth.
The disadvantage for utilizing the fixed hinge short leg brace for drop foot is that this kind of brace does let plantar flexion or dorsifexion to happen, the effect is that individuals aren?t provided as natural gait as they might experience with other forms of braces. Another disadvantage is that it?s a short brace which does not operate as well on individuals who are tall; a few treatment centers advocate a different kind of brace for people that are over 6? tall.
A fixed hinge short leg brace is only an example of the different types of drop foot braces which are available. In case you are somebody that you know may need more info on leg braces, you need to contact Bracemasters for additional details on the AFOs and on the products that Bracemasters offers. Their site is www.bracemasters.com or you could reach them toll free at 888-790-6880, email at Info@bracemasters.com.
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Source: http://newhealthandfitness.org/2012/02/05/what-exactly-is-afo-drop-foot-brace/
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