The Effect of Ankle Foot Orthosis Influences the Prefrontal Load in Stroke Patients During Dual Task Walking

The Effect of Ankle Foot Orthosis Influences the Prefrontal Load in Stroke Patients During Dual Task Walking

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn the effect of carbon fiber ankle foot rothosis (AFO) on dual-task walking perfromance and cognitive load for stroke patients.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does wearing carbon fiber AFO can improve gait and secondary task during dual task walking for individual with stroke ? Does wearing carbon fiber AFO can reduce the prefrontal load during dual task walking for individuals with stroke?

Researchers will compare gait, concurrent task performance, and FNIRs activation over prefrontal area under different test conditions (with/without AFO, single walk, cognitive dual walk, motor dual walk)

Participants will:

execute all different conditions repeatedly in a randomized order. require to visit the lab once, about 2 hours period to complete the whole experimental protocol.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age over 18 years old
• diagnosed with stroke hemoplegia
• Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) equal or over 24
• able to walk independently for 15 meters without any assistive device
• able to follow instruction

Exclusion Criteria:

• aphasia that could not comprehend or verbally response
• orthopedic disease of lower extremity caused discomft during walking
• neurological disease besides stroke