What Exactly Is Afo Drop Foot Brace?

An AFO drop foot brace is a device that is used to manage a condition known as drop foot; AFO is short for ankle foot orthosis.

Drop foot is a disorder where a person is unable to or has difficulty raising their foot at the ankle joint. This can make walking tough to those who endure drop foot, as the toes can tend to drag the ground, that may lead to the patient tripping or being unstable on their feet. Patients with drop foot compensate for the situation by using the muscles in their hip to pick the foot up above the ground, this is referred to as a steppage gait, or otherwise they may make up through swinging the leg to the outside so that the foot clears the ground, that is labelled as circumduction.

As a treatment for drop foot, numerous individuals utilize a drop foot brace, also recognized as an ankle foot orthosis (AFO) to aid patients to have a more normal gait. There are several distinct types of braces utilized in the management of drop foot, the kind of brace utilized will be based upon a patients own specific condition. In therapy, an AFO can be employed in several different methods to benefit the wearer; in order to have a far better understanding of how a drop foot brace works a person has to have an understanding of the movement in the ankle and foot areas.

Basically, there are 2 standard motions that take place at the ankle joint, one is identified as dorsiflexion and the other is known as plantarflexion. Dorsiflexion is the motion that the ankle does to make the foot point up; plantarflexion is the movement that the ankle does to make the toes point down. Dorsiflexion is the motion that should happen once the foot lifts off the floor so that a person from dragging their toes on the floor; people who suffer from drop foot normally are afflicted with a partial or total weakness of the muscles that give the dorsiflex for the foot at the ankle.

One kind of drop foot brace or AFO that is used in a few cases of drop foot is a brace that is known as short leg AFO having a fixed hinge (no flexing at ankle joint). This kind of AFO is lightweight and simply fits into a patients shoes. This AFO affords exceptional control of the foot for the patient and is useful for people who go through drop foot and also are afflicted by a very flat foot. A short leg AFO supports the foot at a ninety-degree angle to the leg and can likewise help keep undesired rotation of the foot from taking place. This type of unwanted rotation can frequently afflict patients who have sustained a cerebrovascular accident or Charcot-Marie Tooth.

The drawback for employing the fixed hinge short leg brace for drop foot is that this type of brace does allow plantar flexion or dorsifexion to happen, the effect is that individuals are not provided as natural gait as they might encounter with other styles of braces. Another disadvantage is that it's a short brace which does not operate as well on individuals who are tall; several treatment centers advise a different type of brace for individuals that are over 6' tall.

A fixed hinge short leg brace is simply one example of the different kinds of drop foot braces which are available. In case you are somebody which you know are in need of much more data on leg braces, you must contact Bracemasters for further data on the AFOs and on the products that Bracemasters offers. Their site is www.bracemasters.com or you can reach them toll free at 888-790-6880 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting888-790-6880end_of_the_skype_highlighting, email at Info@bracemasters.com.

by: John F Smith.

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