Exercise moderation of foot function during walking with a re-usable semirigid ankle orthosis

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of a re-usable semirigid ankle orthosis on the support phase of the walking stride in both pre- and post-exercise conditions. Ten young, adult males were required to complete ten trials in each of four orthosis/no orthosis and pre-/post-exercise conditions. Data were collected via a force platform and a high speed camera. The analysis consisted of the evaluation of selected ground reaction force parameters and kinematic parameters describing rearfoot motion. The exercise regimen consisted of 70 maximal eccentric actions of the ankle everters, with 15 s between each action. The results revealed significant differences between the orthosis/no orthosis conditions for the variables describing the mediolateral action of the ankle during walking. Only the rearfoot touchdown angle was affected by the exercise regimen. The data indicated that the semirigid orthosis moderated ankle joint mechanics, although the measured values were within normal bounds.