Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Feb;40(1):135-41.
doi: 10.5535/arm.2016.40.1.135. Epub 2016 Feb 26.

Effects of a Resting Foot Splint in Early Brain Injury Patients

Eun Jung Sung  1 , Min Ho Chun  1 , Ja Young Hong  1 , Kyung Hee Do  1
Affiliations

Effects of a Resting Foot Splint in Early Brain Injury Patients

Eun Jung Sung et al. Ann Rehabil Med. 2016 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of the resting foot splint to prevent ankle contracture.

Methods: We performed a randomized controlled trial in 33 patients with brain injury with ankle dorsiflexor weakness (muscle power ≤grade 2). Both groups continued conventional customized physical therapy, but the patients in the foot splint group were advised to wear a resting foot splint for more than 12 hours per day for 3 weeks. The data were assessed before and 3 weeks after the study. The primary outcome was the change in ankle dorsiflexion angle after 3 weeks.

Results: Before the study, there were no differences between groups in gender, age, time post-injury, brain injury type, initial edema, spasticity, passive range of ankle dorsiflexion, Fugl-Meyer score (FMS), or Functional Ambulation Classification. A significant improvement in ankle dorsiflexion angle, and FMS was found after 3 weeks in both groups. The splint group showed more spasticity than the control group after 3 weeks (p=0.04). The change of ankle dorsiflexion angle, foot circumference, spasticity, and FMS after adjusting initial value and spasticity were not significantly different between the 2 groups.

Conclusion: Wearing a resting foot splint for 3 weeks did not affect joint mobility in patients with subacute brain injury regularly attending personalized rehabilitation programs. Further studies of larger sample sizes with well controlled in spasticity are required to evaluate the effects of the resting foot splint.

Keywords: Contracture; Foot orthoses; Orthotic device; Resting foot splint.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

References

    1. Harvey LA, Herbert RD, Glinsky J, Moseley AM, Bowden J. Effects of 6 months of regular passive movements on ankle joint mobility in people with spinal cord injury: a randomized controlled trial. Spinal Cord. 2009;47:62–66. - PubMed
    1. Braddom RL. Physical medicine and rehabilitation. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2011. pp. 1148–1149.
    1. Wissel J, Manack A, Brainin M. Toward an epidemiology of poststroke spasticity. Neurology. 2013;80(3 Suppl 2):S13–S19. - PubMed
    1. Gracies JM. Pathophysiology of spastic paresis. II: Emergence of muscle overactivity. Muscle Nerve. 2005;31:552–571. - PubMed
    1. Viosca E, Martinez JL, Almagro PL, Gracia A, Gonzalez C. Proposal and validation of a new functional ambulation classification scale for clinical use. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2005;86:1234–1238. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources