Abstract
An ankle dorsiflexion-restricting orthosis (ADRO) to protect the joint from mechanical stresses is generally used in post-operative treatments and management after injury and/or surgery. Ascending stairs is one of the most frequent actions in our daily life that seems to impose a higher level of mechanical stresses on the body, especially in those people wearing an ADRO. However, to date, an extensive literature search by the authors has not uncovered any studies of stair ascending motion under the condition of ankle dorsiflexion restriction. We have studied the stair ascending motion while the ankle was restrictively dorsiflexed using an ankle-foot orthosis focusing on the stance phase of the lower extremity in the restricted side in healthy younger adults. Our results showed that the ankle dorsiflexion restriction was compensated for by increased trunk flexion and knee extension in the restricted side, and that the change in strategy required greater moment of hip extension and knee flexion in the restricted side. Therefore, while ankle dorsiflexion restriction can help the ankle in a rest condition, there is a possibility that stair ascending with some compensation strategies for such restriction may increase biomechanical stress in the hip joint and the knee joint.
