Determination of peak stress on polypropylene ankle-foot orthoses due to weight change using strain gage technology

ConclusionMagnitudes, locations, and patterns of stress change in the AFOs due to weight change have been determined and studied. The load magnitudes and directions applied can be altered by motions. These stress changes mainly occurred at the neck and upper neck regions of AFOs, along the lateral side. On the medial side of the AFOs, the compressive stress did changed significantly along the entire neck regions. The variations of stresses have their individual characteristics with different motions, people, the foot geometry, and the AFOs. Thus, further investigation and tests on this subject are required.