The impact of ankle–foot orthoses on mobility of dual-task walking in stroke patients? A cross-sectional two-factor factorial design clinical trial

ABSTRACT

To assess the impact of ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) on mobility and gait during dual-task walking in post-stroke survivors. In this cross-sectional, factorial design trial, stroke survivors performed four randomized tasks: (1) dual-task walking with AFOs, (2) single-task walking with AFOs, (3) dual-task walking without AFOs, and (4) single-task walking without AFOs. Primary outcome was the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, with secondary outcomes including gait metrics, Tinetti scores, and auditory N-back tests. In the results, 48 subjects (38 males and 10 females; 19-65 years) completed the trial. Patients had a greater TUG score with AFOs compared with non-AFOs conditions (95% CI: 7.22–14.41, P < 0.001) in single-task and dual-task conditions. Secondary outcomes showed marked enhancement with AFOs during dual-task walking, with significant interaction effects in gait metrics, balance, and cognitive function (P < 0.05). Although not statistically significant, dual-task effects of TUG and walking speed were more pronounced during dual-task walking. In conclusion, AFOs enhance mobility and gait during both single and dual-task walking in post-stroke survivors.

KEYWORDS:

• Stroke
• dual-task walking
• ankle-foot orthosis
• mobility
• rehabilitation

Acknowledgements

We thank the Rehabilitation Medicine Department of the Zhujiang Hospital for their assistance with recruitment. We would like to express our thanks to all the participants of this trial.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data available on request due to privacy restrictions.

Ethics approval

The study and consent forms have been approved by the Ethics Committee of Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University (NO:2018-KFLLK-003). Consent will be obtained from all study participants and their family members.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the under National Natural Science Foundation of China (General Program), No. 82072528 and 81874032; under the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Youth Program), No. 82002380.