Assessing Wear Time and Perceptions of Wearing an Ankle Foot Orthosis in Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease.
PM R 2022;
15:493-500. [PMID:
35488854 PMCID:
PMC9617808 DOI:
10.1002/pmrj.12829]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Revised: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a cardiovascular disease that effects patients' walking ability. An ankle foot orthosis (AFO) may improve patients' walking distances. Little research has explored if patients wear a prescribed AFO and their perceptions of wearing the device.
OBJECTIVE
To assess wear time of an AFO and explore perceptions of wearing the device in patients with peripheral artery disease.
DESIGN
Convergent mixed methods.
SETTING
The study was administered through a tertiary care medical center and the research subjects used the device in an outpatient setting in and out of their homes during their regular activities.
PARTICIPANTS
Patients were referred to the study by their vascular surgeon. Thirty-six patients, all older adult males, were enrolled in this study. Fourteen patients completed the study and 11 supplied sufficient accelerometer data.
INTERVENTIONS
An AFO was worn for 3 months. An accelerometer was placed on the AFO for 7 days at midpoint (1.5 months) and endpoint of the intervention (3 months) to assess wear time. Semi-structured interviews explored patients' perceptions of wearing the AFO.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
The primary outcome measure was wear time measured objectively via accelerometer and subjectively via interview.
RESULTS
Patients (n = 14) wore the AFO around 8 hours/day. Most patients felt they wore the AFO a majority of the time. Patients reported barriers such as challenges wearing the AFO during daily household activities (using stairs, being on uneven terrain), discomfort, clothing or footwear issues, and driving challenges. Positive impacts of wearing the AFO were also reported, primarily the ability to walk further.
CONCLUSIONS
An AFO may be an acceptable therapeutic intervention to improve perceived walking performance in older adult males with PAD. Addressing patients' perceptions of the AFO and barriers to wear are essential to increasing the positive impact the device has on patients' ambulatory activity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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