Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between mechanical functions of ankle foot orthosis and hemiplegia gait. This study was performed on ten hemiplegic patients. We measured hemiplegic gait motion with three ankle foot orthosis that have different functions. Furthermore we measured motion electromyogram in muscle of paralytic lower limb was recorded to understand change of muscle activity under the body that caused variation to hemiplegic gait. As a result, walking speed significantly increased in bare foot, AFO-1, AFO-2 order in both stance and swing phase. Moreover, amplitude of electromyogram of gastrocnemius laterale muscle significantly increased in stance phase. On the other hand, amplitude of electromyogram of tibialis anterior muscle significantly increased in swing phase. The experimental results suggest that muscle activities of paralytic lower limb were highly changed by dorsiflexion assisted moment of ankle foot orthosis.
