Murray, a past KDA board member and a person living with KD has advised me of a new AFO that is working for him. It gives him greater mobility and confidence. You can read more about it in my "Living with Kennedy's Disease" blog. Link: http://kennedysdisease.blogspo...-be-of-interest.html

I'm going to give it a try even though I'm not walking much at all these day.

Looks like it might provide some protection from break bones during a fall - at least legs bones!

The AFO didn't work all that well for me. I'm pretty far along and I don't walk more than a few feet using a walker for transfers. The AFO made transfers more difficult (standing up) and itI made my short steps more difficult as I needed to raise my leg more than usual to take a step. It did give me more stability while free standing but it didn't seem to add the the amount of time I could stand without hanging on to anything. I didn't try the device for very long and never did take more than a few steps so keep that in mind.

I can imagine that if I tried the device a few years earlier it may have been of some benefit. I know one benefit would be protecting your leg and ankle bones during a fall. I think the bone breaking falls we take are the one's where the knee buckles and we fall forward on the leg and dropping a lot of weigh on the back of the lower leg - at least that was the case for two bone breaking falls for me. The AFO would have prevented the breaks in my opinion. I had a fall that was similar once while I still had a cast on and no damage was done. The cast just redirected my fall backwards.

So if your are still walking free style the AFOs may be of benefit. Hope they work for you!

I have just had Allard ToeOFFs fitted to both feet. After using them for a week, I think they are a definite benefit. As I have no strength in my feet, I tended to hobble along balancing on my heels. Now I have a little support further forward in my feet and am much more stable. Additionally, my balance has improved because they support my calves.

Cliff, thanks for sharing. That is great news ... anything is good when it makes us safer and keeps us mobile.