This proposed project will further develop a CFC off-loading AFO designed to offload plantar pressures and optimize patient function through maximizing plantarflexor power production. During Phase I, we will determine the effects of varying design characteristics of CFC off-loading AFOs. We will refine and create new FEA models and algorithms that predict the appropriate brace design given patient characteristics including patient baseline functional abilities. In a future Phase II project, we will continue to refine the algorithm for patients with various diagnoses and presentations to ensure the applicability across the spectrum of potential users and develop rapid fabrication techniques that integrate CAD/CAM technology to maximize brace durability, minimize error, and allow national and international CFC off-loading AFO distribution.
Over 4.3 million Americans will develop at least one neuropathic foot ulcer during their lifetimes and foot disease (usually foot ulceration) is the prie precipitant of diabetes related lower extremity amputations. Effective clinical management can reduce both ulceration and amputation but current treatments significantly curtail patients' physical activity levels. The purpose of this project is to determine the patient characteristics that predict the optimum design variables needed to create a carbon fiber composite (CFC) offloading ankle foot orthosis (AFO) that delays or prevents non traumatic lower extremity amputations and increases physical activity and quality of life in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), peripheral neuropathy (PN), and foot complications.
