Pilot Study of Cadence, a Novel Shoe for Patients with Foot Drop

Foot Drop is a mobility disorder that limits ankle dorsiflexion, complicating the swing phase of gait and balance. It is a common result of a neurological injury or disease such as stroke, cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis. Here we present Cadence, a low-cost assistive shoe designed to passively improve the biomechanics and rhythmicity of gait for people with foot drop. The shoe reduces the magnitude of scuffing forces when dragging the foot forward across the ground by using regions of low-friction material that can retract into the shoe to restore friction during stance phase. We report the results from a pilot study of Cadence, which show the biomechanical and performance effects of the device for five adults with foot drop due to neurological disorder. In 3 of the 5 subjects, we found that the shoe immediately improved gait mechanics, speed over ground, and qualitative gait comfort.