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Int J Sports Med 2007; 28(3): 243-246
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-924292
Orthopedics & Biomechanics

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Do Ankle Foot Orthoses Modify Postural Control during Bipedal Quiet Standing Following a Localized Fatigue of the Ankle Muscles?

N. Vuillerme1 , 2 , S. Demetz2
  • 1Laboratoire TIMC-IMAG, UMR CNRS 5525, Equipe AFIRM, Grenoble, France
  • 2Laboratoire de Modélisation des Activités Sportives, Université de Savoie, Savoie, France
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Publication History

Accepted after revision: April 25, 2006

Publication Date:
06 October 2006 (online)

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Abstract

The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate the effects of wearing ankle foot orthoses (AFO) on postural control during bipedal quiet standing following a localized fatigue of the ankle muscles. To this aim, eight young healthy subjects were asked to stand upright as immobile as possible with and without AFO in two conditions of non-fatigue and fatigue of the ankle muscles. The center of foot pressure displacements (CoP) were recorded using a force platform. Larger CoP displacements in the fatigue than non-fatigue condition were observed without AFO along both the medio-lateral and antero-posterior axes. Interestingly, with AFO, these destabilizing effects were not observed along the medio-lateral axis. Altogether, the present findings suggested that the AFO allowed the subjects to limit the postural perturbation induced by a localized fatigue of the ankle muscles during bipedal quiet standing.

Key words

Balance - ankle foot orthosis - muscular fatigue - center of foot pressure

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Nicolas Vuillerme

Laboratoire TIMC-IMAG, UMR CNRS 5525, Equipe AFIRM
Faculté de Médecine

38706 La Tronche cédex

France

Fax: + 3 34 76 51 86 67

Email: nicolas.vuillerme@imag.fr

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