Gait measures in patients with and without AFO for equinus varus/drop foot
Even if significant differences were obtained only for limited parameters when measuring gait in the two different AFO- no AFO conditions, this doesn't prevent to consider the preliminary results in the use of the inertial device encouraging for assisting outcome measure in rehabilitation. The limit of this study is in fact the small number of subjects. In the field of neurological rehabilitation it is well known that research has to manage the problem of the wide variability among patients and usually a large number of subjects have to be included in comparative studies. Such measurements could be differently achieved only by means of traditional gait analysis, which however is expensive, is based on a few steps under conditions of walk constrained by the laboratory which does not reflect the environment in which the patient usually moves. The new device is in conclusion sensitive to measure time distance parameters in a clinical setting. Further research must be developed in wider sample of patients and with different treatment options to validate the device as a useful tool in monitoring the rehabilitation outcome.