Ankle immobilization using orthopedic walking boot?

[Clark Dickin]

I am wondering if anyone is aware of research looking at the efficacy of orthopedic walking boots in controlling ankle motion. In searching the literature there are numerous articles assessing its ability to improve rehabilitation outcomes, or assessing changes in overall limb motion of the knee/hip or spatio-temporal measures of gait but little assessing motion in the ankle.

One study assessed ankle motion through axial loading cadaver limbs and found some rotational motion with injured ligaments:

Lamer S, Hébert-Davies J, Dubé V, Leduc S, Sandman É, Ménard J, Nault ML. Effect of a Controlled Ankle Motion Walking Boot on Syndesmotic Instability During Weightbearing: A Cadaveric Study. Orthop J Sports Med. 2019 Aug 20;7(8): doi: 10.1177/2325967119864018. PMID: 31457067; PMCID: PMC6702776.

However I am interested in finding studies that have assessed the walking boot during gait or other functional movements to quantify how well it controls movement at the ankle.


Kind regards,

Clark

[Dustin Bruening]

Hi Clark, this probably isn't the focus you are looking for, but I'll throw it out in case it might be helpful. We recently published a paper comparing a few different types of walking boots on offloading and gait mechanics. We did measure ankle motion, but not as a primary focus and not differences between boot and limb, so we didn't get at specific joint components. Still might be a good reference in your search: https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...50453322001382
Best wishes,
Dustin

[Karen Kruger]

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for but we used fluoroscopy to quantify tibiotalar and subtalar joint motion while barefoot or wearing short and tall CAM boots.

McHenry BD, Exten EL, Cross JA, Kruger KM, Law B, Fritz JM, Harris G. Sagittal Subtalar and Talocrural Joint Assessment During Ambulation With Controlled Ankle Movement (CAM) Boots. Foot Ankle Int. 2017 Nov;38(11):1260-1266. doi: 10.1177/1071100717723129. Epub 2017 Aug 11. PMID: 28800714.