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Ankle brace

My daughter is a cancer survivor. A tumor damaged nerves in her lower back, causing weakness in her LEFT foot and ankle, and foot drop. Describing the weakness, she has full feeling in her leg, foot, and ankle.
I’d estimate that she has full strength “pushing” down (similar to pushing on a car accelerator) but 20% pulling up.
She also has only has 20% of the strength keeping her foot straight.
Her foot “drops” inward when she walks, and we fear she’ll twist and sprain her ankle (or worse). The doctors here had a brace “fitted.” Essentially it’s a piece of molded plastic with Velcro straps.
It’s very uncomfortable.
She often gets blisters etc.
She’s nearly 14 years old and growing, so she also outgrows these quickly.
We looked through the advancedbrace.com site and there are a lot of braces.
She liked the Donjoy stir-up (Universal Ankle Stirrup Item# D11-0629-9-06000).
It looks like it would support her foot and ankle well, but we have concerns.
The web site says its “universal” (left and right) and “one size fits all.” She wears a women’s size 6 ½ shoe.
Q: WOULD THIS FIT, AND WOULD THIS GIVE HER THE SUPPORT NEEDED?She is also looking for something to wear at home, and spotted the Aircast Air Stir-up (Item# AirCast-02A-Left).
This doesn’t appear to give as much support but may be ok for wearing around home where she is not as active.
It may be more comfortable.Your opinion? Are these good products for her? Are there better choices?John


1 Comment found

    May PT

    9 10

    The ankle braces you are describing are primarily for eversion and inversion stability (turning the ankle inward and outward), they do nothing for the foot drop. There are a couple of other options for your daughter. She could get an AFO (ankle-foot orthosis) that is actually clipped into the sole of a shoe and has 2 metal uprights. Thereby eliminating the uncomfortable plastic AFO that inserts into a shoe. I could never understand how those could be comfortable anyway.Or she could ask the doc or PT if she would be appropriate for an FES unit (functional electrical stimulation). for some info check out this website sensored Best of luck to you and your daughter! M

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