Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO)
Stiffness Optimization
The method to improve treatment outcomes with orthoses in Neuromuscular diseases
Which ankle foot orthosis best matches the patients needs?
This is a question faced by many clinicians on a daily basis. Ankle foot orthoses (AFOs) can improve walking ability in people with neuromusuclar diseases. However, AFOs are often not as effective in improving walking and fall short compared to expectations.
A way to improve the effectiveness of AFOs on improving walking ability is by individually optimizing its stiffness, or how easy the AFO bends. The AFO stiffness that maximally improves walking ability is considered the optimal AFO stiffness. The optimal AFO stiffness differs between individuals.
What does this website offer?
This website provides information to better match orthotic stiffness to the individual, especially in people with neuromuscular diseases. To enable provision of the optimal AFO to each individual this website provides information on:
Evidence supporting this website
Information on this website is based on the lattest scientific insights. A lot of this research is conducted at the Amsterdam UMC, the Netherlands. Most important research articles can be found here.
Contact: Niels Waterval
