Emotional distress, tolerability and perceived benefit of orthoses and walking aids and correlations with disease severity, foot strength, neuropsychiatric status and fatigue
| Emotional distress* | Tolerability* | Perceived benefit* | |
| Overall | 3.7±3.6 (0–10) | 6.6±3.2 (0–10) | 6.6±3.3 (0–10) |
| Shoe inserts | 2.5±3.2 (0–10)† | 7.1±3.1 (0–10)‡ | 6.6±3.2 (0–10) |
| Orthopaedic shoes | 3.7±3.5 (0–10)§ | 6.8±3.1 (0–10)¶ | 6.7±3.4 (0–10) |
| AFOs | 5.5±3.5 (0–10)† § | 5.9±3.2 (0–10)‡ ¶ | 6.3±3.3 (0–10) |
| A) CMTES≤8 | 5.4±3–6 (0–10) | 4.5±3.2 (0–10)** | 5.1±3.3 (0–10)†† |
| A) CMTES>8 | 5.6±3.4 (0–10) | 6.6±2.9 (0–10)** | 6.9±3.2 (0–10)†† |
| B) MRC df≥4- | 5.1±3.7 (0–10) | 5.0±3.2 (0–10)‡‡ | 5.0±3.4 (0–10)§§ |
| B) MRC df≤3 | 5.7±3.4 (0–10) | 6.3±3.1 (0–10)‡‡ | 6.9±3.1 (0–10)§§ |
| C) P-AFOs and MRC pf≥4- | 5.9±2.9 (0–10) | 5.6±2.9 (0–10)¶¶ | 5.9±3.2 (0–10)*** |
| C) P-AFOs and MRC pf≤3 | 5.0±3.7 (0–10) | 7.3±3.2 (0–10)¶¶ | 7.5±2.9 (0–10)*** |
| D) HADS-Anxiety<11 | 4.7±3.7 (0–10) | 6.1±3.4 (0–10) | 6.7±3.4 (0–10) |
| D) HADS-Anxiety≥11 | 6.2±3.5 (0–10) | 7.1±2.4 (0–10) | 7.6±2.5 (0–10) |
| B) HADS-Depression<11 | 4.9±3.7 (0–10) | 5.0±3.7 (0–10) | 6.8±3.3 (0–10) |
| B) HADS-Depression≥11 | 8.0±1.4 (7-10) | 6.6±1.7 (5-9) | 7.2±2.8 (4-10) |
| C) HADS-Total score<22 | 5.0±3.7 (0–10) | 6.2±3.3 (0–10) | 6.7±3.3 (0–10) |
| C) HADS-Total score≥22 | 5.8±3.6 (0–10) | 7.2±1.8 (5-10) | 8.0±2.2 (4-10) |
| D) MFIS-Total score≤38 | 4.3±3.5 (0–10) | 6.1±3.4 (0–10) | 6.7±3.2 (0–10) |
| D) MFIS-Total score>38 | 5.8±3.7 (0–10) | 6.6±2.9 (0–10) | 7.1±3.3 (0–10) |
| Walking aids | 4.3±3.5 (0–10) | / | / |
Significant p values are in bold. P values were calculated using the Mann-Whitney U Test.
*Mean ± standard deviation (range).
†p<0.001.
‡p=0.003.
§p<0.001.
¶p=0.045.
**p=0.002.
††p=0.005.
‡‡p=0.038.
§§p=0.007.
¶¶p=0.004.
***p=0.026.
AFOs, ankle-foot orthoses; CMTES, CMT examination score; df, foot dorsiflexion; E-AFOs, elastic AFOs; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; MRC, Medical Research Council Scale for Muscle Strength; P-AFOs, plastic AFOs; pf, foot plantar flexion.