There are different schools of thought. Some say yes in order to prevent any undesired loading of the ankle or knee and also to reduce the burden of correcting gait on the clinician. Others say no in order to leave it to the clinician to correct the dynamics of knee and ankle and hence the sensory input to the nervous system.
If a patient needs a lot of therapist's assistance to control trunk, hip and knee and forward the legs, we recommend using AFO to reduce the burden on the caregiver.
KAFOs would be on a case by case basis.
If ankle/foot control is one of the primary issues, train without the AFOs in order to address the limitations in the musculature.
Last edited on Sat Sep 22nd, 2007 06:24 am by WebKeeper
|
