TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - Experts' perceived patient burden and outcomes of knee-ankle-foot-orthoses (KAFOs) vs. microprocessor-stance-and-swing-phase-controlled-knee-ankle-foot orthoses (MP-SSCO)
JO  - Canadian prosthetics and orthotics journal
A1  - Brüggenjürgen, B.
A1  - Braatz, F.
A1  - Greitemann, B.
A1  - Drewitz, H.
A1  - Ruetz, A.
A1  - Schafer, M.
A1  - Seifert, W.
A1  - Steinfeldt, F.
A1  - Weichold, C.
A1  - Yao, D.
A1  - Stukenborg-Colsman, C.
SP  - e37795
EP  - e37795
VL  - 5
IS  - 1
N2  - BACKGROUND: Patients with neuromuscular knee-instability assisted with orthotic devices experience problems including pain, falls, mobility issues and limited engagement in daily activities. <br><br>OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyse current real-life burden, needs and orthotic device outcomes in patients in need for advanced orthotic knee-ankle-foot-orthoses (KAFOs). <br><br>METHODOLOGY: An observer-based semi-structured telephone interview with orthotic care experts in Germany was applied. Interviews were transcribed and content-analysed. Quantitative questions were analysed descriptively. <br><br>FINDINGS: Clinical experts from eight centres which delivered an average of 49.9 KAFOs per year and 13.3 microprocessor-stance-and-swing-phase-controlled-knee-ankle-foot orthoses (MP-SSCOs) since product availability participated. Reported underlying conditions comprised incomplete paraplegia (18%), peripheral nerve lesions (20%), poliomyelitis (41%), post-traumatic lesions (8%) and other disorders (13%). The leading observed patient burdens were "restriction of mobility" (n=6), followed by "emotional strain" (n=5) and "impaired gait pattern" (n=4). Corresponding results for potential patient benefits were seen in "improved quality-of-life" (n=8) as well as "improved gait pattern" (n=8) followed by "high reliability of the orthosis" (n=7). In total, experts reported falls occurring in 71.5% of patients at a combined annual frequency of 7.0 fall events per year when using KAFOs or stance control orthoses (SCOs). In contrast, falls were observed in only 7.2 % of MPSSCO users. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Advanced orthotic technology might contribute to better quality of life of patients, improved gait pattern and perceived reliability of orthosis. In terms of safety a substantial decrease in frequency of falls was observed when comparing KAFO and MP-SSCO users.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2561-987X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v5i1.37795
ID  - ref1
ER  -