BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to compare gait abilities in a child with spastic diplegia according to different dorsiflexion angles on hinged ankle-foot orthosis (hinged AFO).

CASE REPORT: This study is a case report of a child who was diagnosed with spastic diplegia and ambulated independently with the use of a hinged AFO. For gait analysis, the GAITRite® was used under 3 different conditions including barefoot, wearing regular of hinged AFO, and wearing a dorsiflexion 10° hinged AFO. The gait velocity and cadence were collected as temporal parameters, while step length, stride length, and single and double leg support time were collected as temporal spatial parameters. As a result, when a regular hinged AFO was worn on the barefoot, the gait velocity and cadence per minute were increased, whereas the step length and stride length, the single and double leg support time decreased. The gait velocity, cadence, step length, and stride length were significantly increased when dorsiflexion 10° hinged AFO was applied compared to barefoot. The gait velocity, cadence, step length, and stride length increased with dorsiflexion 10° hinged AFO compared to regular hinged AFO.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrated that wearing a dorsiflexion 10° hinged AFO would have a positive effect on improving gait ability of a child with cerebral palsy rather than wearing a bare foot and a general hinged AFO.

Keywords: Cerebral Palsy, foot orthoses, Gait