Abstract Summary
Ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) properties, particularly stiffness, can affect gait kinematics. Because AFOs are made from viscoelastic materials, the effects of stiffness may vary at different walking speeds. However, the impact of ankle flexion speed on AFO stiffness has not been thoroughly investigated. We evaluated the impact of flexion speed on stiffness of one traditional and three 3D-printed AFOs. AFO stiffness was affected by speed for the thermoplastic and 3D-printed carbon fiber and nylon AFOs, but not for the 3D-printed polyether block amide (PEBA) AFO. Future work will assess whether these stiffness variations have a significant impact on gait mechanics.
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