User-Centered Design Framework for Personalized Ankle–Foot Orthoses

Background/Objectives: Integrated design and simulation solutions enable the manufacturing of advanced personalized orthotics that improve patients gait characteristics and balance. The success of such a rehabilitation approach is highly dependent on compliance, i.e., users wearing the orthosis consistently. Specifically, for most young children, functionality is secondary to appearance and peer perception. However, the starting point of the traditional design approach is to address functionality and then try to make the appearance more palatable to the wearer. As a result, compliance is a common issue, resulting in slow and uneven rehabilitation progress. Methods: This work proposes a method that inverts this traditional approach and devises an attractive light design that can be adapted to ensure structural soundness. Results/Conclusions: The broader framework is called the user-centered design process. The main advantage is in the flexibility of the added manufacturing approach, allowing for a personalized design that is attractive to the user, promoting higher compliance.