Propriception, balance fail to explain orthoses’ effects on gait variability

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Propriception, balance fail to explain orthoses' effects on gait variability

http://www.lowerextremityreview.com/index.php/news/in-the-moment-op-6#more-2695

Ankle orthoses do not significantly affect proprioceptive thresholds or

single-leg balance in patients with peripheral neuropathy, according to research

from the University of Michigan.

The findings, published in the May issue of the American Journal of Physical

Medicine & Rehabilitation, suggest that improvements in gait variability

associated with ankle orthoses in patients with peripheral neuropathy result

instead from the device's mechanical effect of stiffening the ankle.

Researchers assessed unipedal stance time and frontal plane ankle proprioceptive

thresholds during bipedal stance in 11 patients with peripheral neuropathy

(average age 72 years), with and without ankle orthoses. They found that the

orthotic condition had no significant effect on either measure.

In a previous study, researchers from the same group found that use of

semi-rigid ankle orthoses significantly decreased step-width and step-time

variability in 42 patients with peripheral neuropathy. That study was published

in the April 2004 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.

The May study's findings suggest that these changes in variability are not

attributable to changes in proprioceptive thresholds or unipedal balance.