carbon-fiber AFO
Paula Martinek
Description
Collection
Title:
carbon-fiber AFO
Creator:
Paula Martinek
Date:
5/18/2001
Text:
Hello,all:
Thank you for your answers on the carbon-fiber brace. Most of you said to
use the Toe-Off AFO from Camp. Here are some other responses:
1. rigidity
Based on a prepreg technique these spirals are beeing specified in thier
rigidity before they are build on an individual plaster positiv.
A typical combiantion would be : medium stiffness in the forfoot, softness
in the heel, stiffness in the instabil anklecompartment, the spiral it self
has an adjustabel flexibility according to the patients profil.
The effect for the patient is : florreaction with an soft go on effect,
there is no joint or dorsal stopp to break in at any moment of
movement,soft hellstrike with no kneeflecting moments, fitts nearly in
every shoe and is really not an increase of the limbewight .
I will attach an foto of one , so you can get an impression of it.
2. thin and wight
Thickness is in the frontal brace 1,5 - 2 mm
spiral band 2 - 3 mm
ankle compartment 3 mm
insole heel - forfoot 1 - 1,5 mm
wight 100g without soft cushon or straps/velcro
3. comparison to PP or dorsi-assist joints
negative points :
More work to do it: plaster taking in an active aligment, modulation of the
forfoot and the heel, handling prepregs and prepregs have no ability to be
changed once they have set the form !
positiv points :
really thin, really light, and a constructable stiffness/ flexibility
respecting the serving profil, specially in MS and other neuropathologic
deseases it is neccessary to reduce misinfluence on still active muscle
groups, but by working with PP and joints it will typically turn out into
a more or less bad comprosmiss of reducing or influencing still controlled
moving elements.
And most of the flexing joints I have seen were quite bulky - but maybe
thats my point of view just cause I am a Bockman ... :-)
It is difficult to explain all our expierences ( collected in the last 10
years) with this technique in a normal letter, and I do not want to turn it
into an add-letter so if you are interested, wanting more informations give
ma a respond and I will try to support you, I will be in Boston and
Minneapolis during June, I will have some examples with me so you can
contact me, if you want to have a look - just in case you are around.
Best regards from Germany
Andreas W�rsching
Central Fab. Orthotics
Otto Bock , Duderstadt
Germany
Hi Paula. I am an orthotist working with DeRoyal/Flextech in Newport Beach
CA. We primarily manufacture custom to cast Carbon-composite knee braces but
also make custom to cast AFO/KAFO's. We have made several spiral AFO's over
the past year. I would recomend casting the patient in 5 degrees of
dorsiflexion, setting his foot on the floor while casting and to correct the
varus/ valgus to neutral durng casting as well. If you have any questions,
you can call me at 1-800- 681- FLEX (3539).
Loren Vander Broek, CO
FYI: I finally went ahead with the Toe-Off brace from Camp, to save time,
since the client did a lot of traveling for business and had a trip coming
up. It fit well, and did control the dropfoot without being overly
restricting. It fit well in his dress shoes, which is what he wanted and
was cosmetically pleasing. He seemed happy with it, but he is still on his
trip and I don't know yet how the brace was with full time use. I would use
the brace with someone with a mild dropfoot who is young or who could
benefit from the lightness, and who has a very standard foot and leg. I
would not use it for someone who has knee hyperextension since this brace
acts as a floor reaction AFO, who has any deviations or deformities, or who
has spascity or needs a lot of inversion/eversion control. Again, thank you
for your responses.
Sincerely, Paula Martinek, CO,LPO
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <URL Redacted>
Thank you for your answers on the carbon-fiber brace. Most of you said to
use the Toe-Off AFO from Camp. Here are some other responses:
1. rigidity
Based on a prepreg technique these spirals are beeing specified in thier
rigidity before they are build on an individual plaster positiv.
A typical combiantion would be : medium stiffness in the forfoot, softness
in the heel, stiffness in the instabil anklecompartment, the spiral it self
has an adjustabel flexibility according to the patients profil.
The effect for the patient is : florreaction with an soft go on effect,
there is no joint or dorsal stopp to break in at any moment of
movement,soft hellstrike with no kneeflecting moments, fitts nearly in
every shoe and is really not an increase of the limbewight .
I will attach an foto of one , so you can get an impression of it.
2. thin and wight
Thickness is in the frontal brace 1,5 - 2 mm
spiral band 2 - 3 mm
ankle compartment 3 mm
insole heel - forfoot 1 - 1,5 mm
wight 100g without soft cushon or straps/velcro
3. comparison to PP or dorsi-assist joints
negative points :
More work to do it: plaster taking in an active aligment, modulation of the
forfoot and the heel, handling prepregs and prepregs have no ability to be
changed once they have set the form !
positiv points :
really thin, really light, and a constructable stiffness/ flexibility
respecting the serving profil, specially in MS and other neuropathologic
deseases it is neccessary to reduce misinfluence on still active muscle
groups, but by working with PP and joints it will typically turn out into
a more or less bad comprosmiss of reducing or influencing still controlled
moving elements.
And most of the flexing joints I have seen were quite bulky - but maybe
thats my point of view just cause I am a Bockman ... :-)
It is difficult to explain all our expierences ( collected in the last 10
years) with this technique in a normal letter, and I do not want to turn it
into an add-letter so if you are interested, wanting more informations give
ma a respond and I will try to support you, I will be in Boston and
Minneapolis during June, I will have some examples with me so you can
contact me, if you want to have a look - just in case you are around.
Best regards from Germany
Andreas W�rsching
Central Fab. Orthotics
Otto Bock , Duderstadt
Germany
Hi Paula. I am an orthotist working with DeRoyal/Flextech in Newport Beach
CA. We primarily manufacture custom to cast Carbon-composite knee braces but
also make custom to cast AFO/KAFO's. We have made several spiral AFO's over
the past year. I would recomend casting the patient in 5 degrees of
dorsiflexion, setting his foot on the floor while casting and to correct the
varus/ valgus to neutral durng casting as well. If you have any questions,
you can call me at 1-800- 681- FLEX (3539).
Loren Vander Broek, CO
FYI: I finally went ahead with the Toe-Off brace from Camp, to save time,
since the client did a lot of traveling for business and had a trip coming
up. It fit well, and did control the dropfoot without being overly
restricting. It fit well in his dress shoes, which is what he wanted and
was cosmetically pleasing. He seemed happy with it, but he is still on his
trip and I don't know yet how the brace was with full time use. I would use
the brace with someone with a mild dropfoot who is young or who could
benefit from the lightness, and who has a very standard foot and leg. I
would not use it for someone who has knee hyperextension since this brace
acts as a floor reaction AFO, who has any deviations or deformities, or who
has spascity or needs a lot of inversion/eversion control. Again, thank you
for your responses.
Sincerely, Paula Martinek, CO,LPO
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <URL Redacted>
Citation
Paula Martinek, “carbon-fiber AFO,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 5, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/216492.
