Neurological Disorders

Neurological Disorders

Neurological disorders would include any conditions that affect the impulses from the central nervous system to the extremities. The condition may manifest in a lack of protective sensation, such as with Diabetes, or it may manifest as an interrupted message to fire a muscle caused by a stroke, brain or spinal injury, post-surgical complication or diseases like Polio, Charcot-Marie-Tooths Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and many more.

In most cases, the approach is to stabilize a joint that can no longer be controlled by the muscles. Therefore, a device must be applied that can cross a joint while holding on the bones on either side of the joint. In our field, we are most often dealing with the ankle joint.

The ankle joint is stabilized by:

• Drop foot

• Lateral instability

• Medial instability

• Inability to plantar flex