A microprocessor stance and swing control orthosis improves balance, risk of falling, mobility, function, and quality of life of individuals dependent on a knee-ankle-foot orthosis for ambulation.

Introduction: The C-Brace microprocessor stance and swing control orthosis was designed to overcome safety and functional limitations of traditional knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFOs) for individuals with lower limb paresis. However, a systematic comparison to established KAFO types has not been performed in a bigger sample.

Methods: International multicenter, randomized, controlled, cross-over clinical trial.

The effects of two different ankle-foot orthoses on gait of patients with acute hemiparetic cerebrovascular accident.

Objective. To compare the effects of two types of ankle-foot orthoses on gait of patients with cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and to evaluate their preference in using each AFO type. Design.

Gait assessment during the initial fitting of an ankle foot orthosis in individuals with stroke.

Purpose: To evaluate if the measurement of gait parameters, examined during the fitting of an Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO), has a beneficial effect on the gait pattern of individuals who were affected by a stroke. Also, this study seeks to provide evidence regarding the use of the portable GaitRite system in a clinical setting.

Method: Before-after trial conducted at a stroke outpatient orthotic clinic of a freestanding rehabilitation hospital.

Does knee osteoarthritis alter the neuromuscular responses to a perturbation during single lower limb stance?

Purpose: Evidence substantiating an association between knee osteoarthritis (OA) and altered joint protection responses is relevant to the management of knee OA. The purpose of this study was to detect neuromuscular response times of the vastus lateralis and biceps femoris muscles following a perturbation during single lower limb stance. We hypothesized that muscle response times are: (1) delayed in older adults with knee OA when compared to young and older adults (without diagnosed knee OA) and (2) dependent on the magnitude of load released.

Mechanisms of limb collapse following a slip among young and older adults.

Recovery from a large perturbation, such as a slip, can be successful when stability of movement can be reestablished with protective stepping. Nevertheless, one dilemma for executing a protective step is that its liftoff can weaken support against limb collapse. This study investigated whether failures in limb support leading to falls after a protective step result from insufficient joint moment generation, and whether such insufficiency is greater among older fallers.

Changes in the long head of the biceps tendon in rotator cuff tear shoulders.

Background: Morphologic changes in the long head of the biceps tendon have been described in association with rotator cuff disease, yet mechanical significance of these changes remains unclear.

Methods: An experiment was designed to test the hypotheses that the cross-sectional area and material properties of the long head of the biceps tendon are different in shoulders with full thickness rotator cuff tears and shoulders with intact rotator cuff tendons. Seven pairs of cadaver shoulders were tested.

Glenoid inclination is associated with full-thickness rotator cuff tears.

Anatomic factors, such as a hooked acromion, have been associated with rotator cuff disorders. Orientation of the glenoid relative to the scapula has been implicated in shoulder instability, but it has not been linked to rotator cuff disorders. The purpose of the current study was to test the hypothesis that superior inclination of the glenoid is associated with full-thickness rotator cuff tears.

Quantitative morphology of full thickness rotator cuff tears.

The occurrence of full thickness rotator cuff tears (RCTs) at time of death, the size and distribution of those tears among the tendons of the rotator cuff, and the anterior to posterior and medial to lateral dimensions of the RCTs were determined. A subset of 57 shoulders from a group of 414 were found to have full thickness rotator cuff tears. The three-dimensional coordinates of specific bony landmarks and points defining the circumference of the RCT were digitized using a Flock of Birds DC electromagnetic tracking device.