Wearing hinged afo

junior1984

Thought I would get some advice, I have been wearing an hinged afo brace for two yrs now for ankle instability issues and have noticed over the yrs even after wearing it full time the first few months I noticed my calf got smaller and my ankle feels weaker. I have to get a new brace made here soon but I was wondering is this normal also would I be able to switch to a tall solid afo instead cause the hinged one is destroying my work boots and shoes have to replace like every 6 months haha. 

Pippa_Alumni

Welcome to the community @junior1984! Thanks for sharing this with us. Hopefully some of our members will be in touch soon and able to advise.

niceboots

Hi @junior1984 I have worn various types of afo on and off most of my life, as I have cp. my left calf is smaller than my right, I wear an afo on my left and a dafo on my right. I used to wear a solid afo on both legs and my calves definitely got smaller because I was not using my calf muscles as much. I now have a slightly flexible afo on my left and my calf has grown a bit. My ankle does feel a bit weaker when I’m not wearing my splint too

Jean_OT

Hi @junior1984

If you haven't already done so you might also want to check out if a dynamic lycra splint would be helpful for you. These can sometimes replace tradition splinting or be worn with hard AFO's to improve performance or meet other targets. Unfortunately they are not normally readily available on the NHS.

Several companies do them, including Second Skin which is an Australian company with clinics in the UK:

https://www.secondskin.com.au/Products/dynamic_foot_splints

Best Wishes
Jean