Objective To investigate the effects of personalized, adaptive, current-steering functional electrical stimulation (FES) of the lower leg to improve gait in people with foot drop. Design A one-group, pre-test post-test study. Setting Two gait analysis centers. Participants Thirty-two participants exhibiting symptoms of foot drop. Interventions Adaptive, current-steering FES enables precise control over dorsiflexor and evertor muscles, allowing for personalized treatment to correct key foot drop characteristics including dorsiflexion at heel strike and ankle inversion during swing phase. All participants received adaptive FES of the dorsiflexors and evertors during back-to-back walking sets. Participants completed up to three walking sets of unstimulated walking (pre-test) followed by lower-leg stimulated walking (post-test). Main Outcomes Measures The primary outcome measures include ankle dorsiflexion at heel strike and mean ankle inversion during swing phase. Secondary outcome measures include foot angle at heel strike and single-side heel strike to toe strike time (heel-toe time). Results The differences in pre-test versus post-test primary and secondary outcome measures were statistically significant (p<0.0125) within our cohort. With adaptive, current-steering FES, ankle dorsiflexion at heel strike increased an average 5.2 degrees, and ankle inversion during swing phase was reduced by an average -3.6 degrees, bringing the ankle to a more neutral position for stabilization. Conclusion Gait augmentation using adaptive, current-steering FES improved gait in a population exhibiting symptoms of foot drop. By significantly increasing ankle dorsiflexion at heel strike and decreasing ankle inversion during swing phase, adaptive FES enabled a more neutral ankle at heel strike, which is associated with greater ankle stability and decreased fall risk.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.