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Europa Medicophysica 2001 September;37(3):171-9

Copyright © 2001 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Knee-ankle-foot orthosis for poliomyelitis sequelae. Structural and technical evolution

Conil J. L., Fico G. *, Bardot A. **, Delarque A. **, Viton J. M. **, Kraenzler R., Lemoine F., Lachaud H.

From the Service de Rééducation Fonctionnelle du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire “La Timone” - Marseille (France) *Scuola di Specializzazione in Medicina Fisica e Riabilitazione - Firenze **Département Universitaire de Médecine Physique et Réadaptation, Université de la Méditerranée - Marseille (France)

Back­ground. We ana­lyzed the struc­tural and tech­nical evo­lu­tion in the ­design of the ­knee-­ankle-­foot ­orthosis* for pol­i­om­ye­litic ­patients ­over a ­period of 20 ­years (1980-1999).
­Methods. Our ­study ­included 103 ­patients ­divided ­into two ­groups, the one com­prising ­users of a ­knee-­ankle-­foot ­orthosis ­before 1990 (50 ­patients, 120 ­orthoses), the ­other ­with ­users of a ­device ­before 1989 (53 ­patients, 117 ­orthoses). The two ­groups ­were com­pared ­according to mod­ifi­ca­tions ­brace ­design of the prox­imal, ­medial and ­distal seg­ments, and ­according to dif­ferent mate­rials ­used for ­their fab­ri­ca­tion, ­with ­respect to ­weight reduc­tion, ­orthosis/­lower ­limb sup­port, and dur­ability ­over a spe­cific ­period of ­time for ­each ­group.
­Results. The evo­lu­tion of the ­knee-­ankle ­foot ­orthosis has ­afforded pol­i­om­ye­litic ­patients ­better ­quality of ­life, but ­more ­studies are ­needed on improve­ment of the ­device struc­ture and mate­rials.
Con­clu­sions. ­Over the ­past 20 ­years, ortho­pedic ­devices for ­sequalae of ­acute ante­rior polio­my­e­litis ­have ­evolved con­sid­er­ably in ­design, pro­viding ­patients ­with ­better ­quality of ­life. How­ever, fur­ther improve­ments are ­needed in ­device struc­ture and mate­rial. ­Improved tech­nical fea­tures ­should ­include: ­skin-­device inter­face mate­rial ­that ­breathes ­better, a sup­port ­that com­pen­sates ­muscle flac­cidity of the ­limb, an auto­matic ­lock/­unlock ­knee ­joint ­that is ­both light­weight and ­small.