Foot dysfunction is one of the most likely consequences of rheumatoid arthritis and stroke. It is characterized by severe changes in the gait pattern due to a significant increase in the plantar flexion. Some of these dysfunctions can be compensated by using an ankle-foot orthosis. However, the clinical decision about which orthosis best suits the patient creates a real problem for physicians/therapists. Purpose: The main goal of this paper is to present a quantitative support tool that can assist the physicians/therapists in deciding which orthosis is most suitable for each subject. Methodology: In order to achieve such goal, a platform named OrthoRehab was developed, and it was tested in three conditions: without any orthosis and with two different ankle-foot orthoses. The data were acquired in the Gait Laboratory of Rehabilitation Medicine Center of Alcoitão using a VICON NEXUS 1.8.5® motion capture system that allows the capturing of kinematic and kinetic data. Results: The results reveal that OrthoRehab is a user-friendly, easy to apply tool that analyzes very relevant data for the clinical staff. Conclusion: The developed decision support tool, OrthoRehab, offers a quantitative analysis and provides insight to which orthosis achieves the best performance in comparison with the patient's gait pattern with no orthosis.
Keywords: device; evaluation; gait analysis; orthoses; rehabilitation; software.
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