Abstract: Objective To observe the influence of the orthosis combined with functional training on patients' walking ability. Methods In different rehabilitation training stages, 36 patients, 11 cases of lumbar enlargement spinal cord injury (SCI), 25 cases of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and head injury (HI), received strengthened training with ankle-food orthoses (AFO) for 6 weeks. And then, scores of ASIA, FMA and walking function in limited time (including 6 minute walking measures and 10 meters walking time measures) were evaluated respectively at admision, before and after applying AFO for 6 weeks. Results There was a significant difference in patients' walking function scores between before and after AFO training (P<0.01). However, SCI patients' ASIA scores have no significant changes after applying AFO for 6 weeks (P>0.05). In additional, HI patients' walking function scores after applying AFO for 6 weeks were more different from the scores at admision (P<0.01), and before AFO training (P<0.05). Conclusion AFO combined with functional training can obviously recover lumbar enlargement SCI and HI patients' walking ability.

Key words: orthosis, walking, training