Work

Human Factors and Ergonomic Design Guidelines for Pediatric Ankle–Foot Orthoses in Cerebral Palsy: A PRISMA-Guided Scoping Review With Simulation Parameters for SimTK/OpenSim

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Ankle–foot orthoses (AFOs) are common interventions for ambulatory children with cerebral palsy, yet their clinical value depends on sustained use as well as biomechanical correction. This PRISMA-guided scoping review synthesizes human factors and ergonomics evidence on pediatric cerebral palsy AFOs and translates design-relevant findings into simulation-ready parameters for SimTK/OpenSim. Searches and reference screening identified 34 records; 22 sources met inclusion. Four themes emerged: comfort and skin integrity, usability and caregiver burden, footwear/clothing integration and psychosocial acceptance, and transparent reporting for reproducible tuning. Extracted parameter ranges include composite AFO stiffness near 0.41 to 3.66 N m/deg, rigid pediatric AFO-footwear stiffness near 10.30 to 14.34 N m/deg, mid-stance shank-to-vertical tuning targets near 10 to 12 degrees, and orthosis mass near 0.31 to 0.50 kg. The paper proposes an HFE-constrained design-to-model contract for early-stage AFO simulation.

Source: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting

DOI: 10.1177/10711813261484471

Authors: Naomi Musa, Keekyoung Kim, Junho Park

Institution: University of Calgary

Language: English

Topic: Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Robotics

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $1,500