Nationwide survey of ankle foot orthoses for new stroke patients in 2017

Abstract

A questionnaire survey was conducted nationwide on the ankle foot orthosis (AFO) prescribed for the first time after the onset of stroke. We analyzed the data from the 109 hospitals who responded among the 410 hospitals with recovery rehabilitation wards throughout the country. In descending order the five were Shoe-horn AFO, Conventional AFO, ORTOP AFO, Tamarack or Gillette joint AFO, and GateSolution, and these top five orthoses represented more than 80% of the total. The average number of AFOs prescribed at one hospital was 4.7. In addition, the AFO part of the knee ankle foot orthosis for more than 70% was a conventional AFO. It is desirable to conduct a nationwide survey on a large scale, systematically and regularly, while devising measures to increase the effective response rate.