Carbon Modular Orthosis (Ca.M.O.): An innovative hybrid modular ankle-foot orthosis to tune the variable rehabilitation needs in hemiplegic cerebral palsy.

BACKGROUND: Hemiplegic Celebral Palsy (CP) children commonly use AFO orthoses as walking aids. It is known that AFOs may have a detrimental effect on gait. To enhance mechanical properties of AFOs we developed an innovative, custom-made, carbon, ankle-foot orthosis (Ca.M.O) which offers the opportunity to tune its response to the patient's gait characteristics and/or functional maturity.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of Ca.M.O. in improving gait in a group of hemiplegic CP children and to compare its performances with those of commonly prescribed AFO.

METHODS: A clinical and instrumental gait analysis was performed on a group of 15 spastic hemiplegic children (WINTERS-GAGE type I-II) walking barefoot, with commonly prescribed AFOs and with Ca.M.O.Temporal, kinematic and kinetic data were collected with an 8 cameras optoelectronic system and 2 force plates.

RESULTS: Studied variables were comparable walking with Ca.M.O. and with the commonly prescribed AFO and are significantly different (p < 0.01) with respect to barefoot condition.

CONCLUSIONS: Both types of orthoses normalize the kinematics of the first and second ankle rocker. The main advantage of Ca.M.O. is its modularity that allows to tune its effect on gait in relationship with the progress or involution of the child's functional development.