Effect of appearance of plastic ankle foot orthoses on patient satisfaction and orthotic compliance in children

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate if the appearance of an orthosis manufactured according to the same blomechanical principles as the orthosis formally used affected patient satisfaction, acceptance of the orthosis and compliance to the given orthotic program. Material and methods: The subjects were children between 3-14 years of age with neurological problems who had been using plastic ankle foot orthoses (PAFO's) and who had applied to renew their orthosis. The parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire inquiring acceptance, satisfaction and compliance to the orthotic program for the PAFO their children had been using. The children, who were able to, were asked to answer the questions on a satisfaction scale. A new orthosis was manufactured utilizing the same biomechanical principles but with children friendly material. Upon using the new orthosis for one week the questionnaires were repeated. Results: The data obtained from the pre-post orthotic application questionnaires were compared. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in favour of the orthosis using child friendly material with respect to the answers of both the parents and children for each item in the questonnaires and for the total scores (p<0.05), Conclusion: The results of this study imply that the appearance of the orthosis is an important factor in orthotic satisfaction and compliance.