Identifying the Optimal Dynamic Ankle-Foot Orthosis Bending Stiffness for Individuals Post-Stroke

May 1, 2026 updated by: University of Delaware

Identifying the Optimal Patient-Specific Dynamic Ankle-Foot Orthosis Bending Stiffness in an Evidence-Based Manner That Can be Implemented by Clinical Providers

Ankle braces are commonly prescribed to individuals who have suffered a stroke to help their ankle joints work properly, which allows these individuals to walk better. Currently, there are no standardized guidelines to follow when choosing which brace is best for an individual. Prior work has shown that customizing the level of assistance that these braces provide based on each individual's level of ankle impairment improves the individuals' walking function more than their current brace. The next important step is to fine-tune the customization and work to develop a set of guidelines that can be used by clinicians to help them prescribe the right brace for each patient's needs. The purpose of this study is to test different levels of assistance provided by the brace to determine the optimal customization method. Additionally, this study aims to begin to create a guide to help clinicians choose the best brace for each individuals' needs. To accomplish this goal, individuals will walk with a brace under five different assistance level conditions. The individual's walking function, performance on clinical measures, and response to questionnaires will be examined to determine both the optimal brace for each individual and hopefully identify clinical tools that can be used to guide prescription of the brace. This study is a major step towards developing effective, standardized prescription guidelines that optimize walking of individuals post-stroke.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

40

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Delaware
      • Newark, Delaware, United States, 19713
        • University of Delaware STAR Campus

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • chronic stroke (> 6 months post-stroke)
  • been prescribed an AFO by a clinician
  • have plantar flexor strength deficits (unable to complete at least 25 standing heel-raises
  • have at least 5 degrees of passive dorsiflexion range of motion (as measured during the clinical evaluation in Visit 1).

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Those that will not be included in this study are individuals with 1) Evidence of cerebellar stroke on clinical MRI, 2) Other neurologic conditions in addition to stroke, 3) Sensorimotor neglect, 4) Inability to walk outside the home prior to the stroke, 5) Total joint replacement or orthopedic problems in the lower limbs or spine that limit walking, 6) Coronary artery bypass graft or myocardial infarction within past 3 months, 7) Unexplained dizziness in last 6 months, 8) Inability to communicate with investigators, 9) Lack of decisional capacity.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: Single

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Mechanical Cost of Transport of the Lower Extremities
Time Frame: Day 2
Day 2
Sagittal plane ankle moment during stance
Time Frame: Day 2
Day 2
Sagittal plane ankle angle during stance
Time Frame: Day 2
Day 2
Self-selected walking speed
Time Frame: Day 2
Day 2
a candidate set of clinical outcome measures
Time Frame: Day 2
Day 2

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Delaware

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 30, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

March 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 23, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 4, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

March 12, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 4, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 1, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1986626-1

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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