Knee ankle foot orthoses in treatment of genu recurvatum: Evaluation of efficiency, users’ satisfaction and tolerance

Introduction The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficiency, users’ satisfaction and tolerance of the Knee Ankle Foot Orthosis (KAFO) in treatment of painful genu recurvatum (PGR). Material and method Epidemiologic retrospective monocentric study. Patients having a clinical PGR on stance phase confirmed by a practitioner. The main outcome was the pain before and after having the KAFO evaluated with the numerical verbal scale (NVS) of pain rated on 100 and the simple verbal scale (SVS) of pain. The secondary outcomes were the French version of the Quebec user evaluation of satisfaction with assistive technology (QUEBEC 2.0) and a numerical scale of satisfaction (NSS) rated on 100. Results Twenty-seven patients but 31 KAFO have been analyzed (4 patients had both KAFO): 25 free knee joints/6 locked knee joints. Before and after having the KAFO, the NVS of pain decreased from a mean of 80/100 to 26.9 ( P  ≤ 0.001) and the SVS of pain from “extreme” to “weak” ( P  ≤ 0.001). The French version of the QUEBEC 2.0 had a total of 4.04 and the NSS had a mean of 86/100. Discussion With this study, it was shown that treating a PGR with a KAFO is efficient on pain whatever the pathology from which the patient is suffering, and the patient satisfaction is good.