Abstract: Objective To observe the effect of ankle-foot orthosis(AFO)on the activities of daily living(ADL)and walking ability of patients with low lumbar spinal cord injury.Methods29 cases with low lumbar spinal cord injury were trained by systematic rehabilitation.According to patients' condition,static AFO or dynamic AFO were assembled for them.All patients were evaluated with Modified Barthel Index(MBI)and Functional Independence Measure(FIM)before and after training,and the walking distances were also measured.ResultsAfter AFO dressed,the ADL scores of patients increased,especially walking ability increased significantly(P<0.05).Of 29 patients,26 cases had outdoor walking ability,3 cases had domestic walking ability.ConclusionSelecting different kinds of AFO according to condition of individual can help patients with low lumbar spinal cord injury to reconstruct their walking ability and improve ability of self-management.

Key words: ankle-foot orthosis(AFO), spinal cord injury, walking, activities of daily living(ADL)