CHECK Question

CHECK Question

Shane Jansen

11/13/2006

My Thanks to all who responed.
Below are the postings.
I also e-mailed Camp and they responded with helpful suggestions which included loosening the straps a little rather that grinding the joints.
I should also have noted on the original posting that my patient's knee goes to 35 - 40 deg of HE in stance.

Regards
Shane Jansen
---------------------------------------------------------

 I have the orthosis to control knee hyperextension in post polio . This is very light in weight and patient can be walk comfortably. This orthosis is desinged mainly for those patients who don't keen to consider KAFO at old age.

--------------------------------------------------------

Well to see your post in the list iam orthotist in india, it is quite surprise to see polio in newzeland. i feel it is better to give suparacondylar AFO we call it has FRO ( floor reaction orthosis) the construction is to make a Plastic AFO and pretibial shell the superior border extended above the supracondylar, higher trimlines can control the hyper extension of the knee and knee can be flexed during swing phase that is advantage of supracondylar afo, please try let me get the feed back.
---------------------------------------------------

Hi friend, It is better to go for FRO in spite of
KAFO.
---------------------------------------------------

I like the CHECK knee orthosis. I wouldn't grind off any metal, but just loosen the staps that are attached to the full back knee pad to allow more knee extension. I don't like the little holes for the straps to run through so I usually add chafes and loops to one side. Like all knee orthoses, they migrate distally.
------------------------------------------------------------

Have never tried to grind the brace but we have used it for some patients. It's okay. A better alternative might be a hardshelled knee brace like Townsend makes. They are very lowprofile and more cosmetic. Or I've also used hinged knee braces like DonJoys that allows you to change the stops. Because of the neoprene material, the patient gets some hyperextension in the brace because they can power through the material. The joints still keep some control over the amount of hyperextension allowed.

-------------------------------------------------------------

It works well, maybe to well for your client. It is such liteweight metal, good for suspension, but I would be hesitant liability wise to do this. JMO

-------------------------------------------------------------
It is proper to allow slight HE in order to stabilize the knee.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Shane you can do this with a knee orthosis however, you will also
increase the anterior distal pressure of the K.O. Some patients can
handle this if you distribute the pressure the best you can throughout
the anterior tib. area. Most of the time, the forces are so great that
you need to extend the lever arm to distribute the pressure down into
the foot area. A light-weight AFO (leaf trim design) usually works very
well and the patient can still have all the motion they want in the foot
and ankle.