Design and characterization of a variable-stiffness ankle-foot orthosis.

Background: Ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are a type of assistive device that can improve the walking ability of individuals with neurological disorders. Adjusting stiffness is a common way to customize settings according to individuals' impairment.

Objective: This study aims to design a variable-stiffness AFO by stiffness module and characterize the AFO stiffness range to provide subject-specific settings for the users.

Methods: We modeled AFO using bending beams with varying fulcrum positions to adjust the stiffness. To characterize the stiffness range and profile, we used the superposition method to generate the theoretical model to analyze the AFO numerically. The intrinsic deformation of the bending beam in the AFO is considered a combination of 2 bending deformations to replicate actual bending conditions. The corresponding experiments in different fulcrum positions were performed to compare with and optimize the theoretical model. The curve fitting method was applied to tune the theoretical model by adding a fulcrum position-related coefficient.

Results: The AFO stiffness increased as the fulcrum moved to the proximal position. The maximum stiffness obtained was 1.77 Nm/° at a 6-cm fulcrum position, and the minimum stiffness was 0.82 Nm/° at a 0.5-cm fulcrum position with a 0.43-cm thick fiberglass beam. The corresponding theoretical model had maximum and minimum stiffness of 1.71 and 0.80 Nm/°, respectively. The theoretical model had a 4.08% difference compared with experimental values.

Conclusions: The stiffness module can provide adjustable stiffness with the fulcrum position and different kinds of fiberglass bars, especially the thickness and material of the beam. The theoretical model with different fulcrum positions can be used to profile the real-time stiffness of the AFO in a dynamic motion and to determine the appropriate dimensions of the bending beam.