Dorsi-Strap Comments Page 2

This Dorsi-Strap works great. I’m able to walk without my old cumbersome brace. I can also drive my car with it.
This is a great invention.

Royce P., Rochester, NY 

I recently purchased and received the Dorsi-Strap for my foot drop condition, (first, you have fast shipping!), your product is unbelievable and has done IMMEDIATE wonders for me! Thank you! I had the expensive foot-drop brace that was actually hindering me from walking, but your Dorsi-Strap went immediately on and worked! You have given me mobility back in my life.
I can't believe that my insurance paid $561.00 for a hard plastic brace that hurts me, makes me off-balance, and still doesn’t take care of my foot-drop problem. Your Dorsi-Strap worked immediately, and took care of my foot-drop problem.
Thank you so much for this product and for selling it at a very reasonable price. I still can't believe how I am walking, even my wife is shocked. Today I walked without the use of a cane (for balance) for about 15 minutes, I haven't done that in over three years!!!
Thank you!
Jeff G., Irvington, NY

I’ve been using your Dorsi-Strap for about a year now, and I want to tell you how very successful your “invention” is. I’m now 80 years old, and have had Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disorder for almost 10 years. I am VERY lucky that I did not have any symptoms until age 70 or 71. I have severe foot drop in both feet, and no muscles in my lower legs. My balance is terrible, and I use a cane all the time. I have never worn an AFO and I don’t ever want to.

Your Dorsi-Strap prevents me from falling, and gives me confidence in walking, mowing the front yard with a non-motorized, push mower, and doing many other things around the house that most people with my condition would not consider doing. I have been wearing the Dorsi-Straps on both of my feet, and they have improved the quality of my life.

Your device does everything you claim it will do, and I hope many other people with CMT, or whatever other conditions they have, will give it a try. They will be pleased with the results, I’m sure.

Bud G., Lake Worth, FL

I must tell you, this is my 3rd Dorsi-Strap over the past few years, and I have spent thousands of dollars on other AFOs, and even a Neuro-Stimulating device for my drop foot caused from MS.

But your simple and very Low Tech device has been better than all of them. I also intend on buying the other product that you have (the Dorsi-Lite Foot Splint).

Thank You So much, and you should be very proud.

Kelly M., Byron, GA

The original AFO brace I was given was just too hard, and it made my foot hurt and swell up. 
I've used the Dorsi-Strap a full week already, and my foot no longer hurts, and the swelling is gone.  
I can now walk without the pain. 

By all means, use my comment. People need to know that your Dorsi-Strap helps someone with severe nerve damage and drop foot. 

THANK YOU!!!!!   
Daniel G.,Tomball, TX

Before I was diagnosed with dropfoot I was an active person. I play sports and love to go out dancing with my wife. I wore the conventional AFO which is very bulky and uncomfortable for almost three years. I have always searched for something less intrusive on the internet, and when I saw this new site come up in my search, I was blown away at the idea of being able to wear a device that for one does not go in my shoe, run up the back of my calf three inches from my knee, and did not require me to wear a tube sock for comfort. I purchased a black and a white Dorsi-Strap as soon as I saw the way it looked. When I received it and tried it I knew that I could say goodbye to my old AFO. The freedom that it gives me is great. I was still able to do the things I did before with the old AFO, but I would tire easily because of the intrusive plastic in my shoe. The Dorsi-Strap allows me to do the things I love with normal comfort, my foot doesn't start hurting anymore, and I no longer have a need for those ugly tube socks.Thank You,

Eddie C., Houston, TX

I have MS and recently ordered the Dorsi-Strap for dropfoot. I was having a hard time grocery shopping and doing almost anything else. I was constantly tripping and sometimes falling. Since I received the Dorsi-Strap, it has changed my life. I can now do the things I used to do. Thank you,

Peggy B., Webster, NY

After being diagnosed with drop foot due to a herniated disc in my back I was fitted for an AFO brace for my leg/foot to keep me from falling. It was uncomfortable and hot, so needless to say, I never wore the $700.00 brace. I fell several times and was so depressed. I found the web site for the Dorsi-Strap and ordered it. I received it today and I can already notice the difference and so can my family. It is great, and the price was unbelievable. Thanks Dorsi-Strap for changing my life.

Janet M., St. Joseph, MO

I suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke six years ago that left me partially paralyzed on my left side. One of the most aggravating aftereffects of the stroke was the development of foot drop and the inability to flex the ankle on the effected side. The stroke damaged the part of my brain responsible for sending signals to my ankle. This has interfered with my ability to walk normally. Without an orthopedic device, my left toe scuffs the ground and while my right foot is still accustomed to the heel-toe, heel-toe synchrony of normal walking, the left foot lands in an audible slapping motion in an attempt to maintain forward movement.

Noting my abnormal gait, my rehab physician prescribed an AFO (ankle- foot orthotic). This necessitated my making a trip to the local orthopedic outlet. While there a skilled technician, who employed computer assisted imaging, made a topographical map of my left lower leg. The following week my brand new AFO arrived and I used it under the watchful eye of the same technician while going for a test walk. It fit my leg perfectly and improved the dorsi-flexion (the movement which decreases the angle between the top of the foot and leg) of my affected foot as advertised. I kept it on when I drove home thinking that now, finally, I could walk without getting stares from the motorists staring at me stumbling as I tried to traverse the half-mile journey around the block.

Alas, it turned out to be a rather expensive lesson to the tune of $750! My first mistake was having worn dress shoes to the rehearsal. I soon discovered that the AFO was not quite as sturdy when inserted into either my walking shoes or my favorite sneakers. The second revelation was that the device soon proved to be uncomfortable, being both bulky and while at the same time making the leg housed in plastic sweat, and seemed even more cumbersome when attempting to stand up when getting out of a chair, or getting in or out of an automobile, A third unwelcome surprise was the discovery that the appliance destroyed my good shoes in short order; they literally came apart at the seams from the stress of trying to contain the appliance.! To be honest, I only wore it for a few months before I had to give up on it entirely, putting it on a shelf where it could serve as a sober reminder to not having done adequate research before purchasing the custom made AFO.

I returned to the orthopedic store where the same technician who put me in the orthotic gave me a trial on a new walk aid they were about to stock, a device using electrical stimulation. This device was designed to stimulate the peroneal nerve, running down the leg to the foot, by restoring the nerve-to-muscle signal from my brain down the spinal cord then along the leg until the foot receives the signal to flex, thus facilitating a more normal stepping motion. Unfortunately, the electronic gizmo did not work for me. Even though the technician patiently moved the sensor from area to area on my lower leg a few millimeters at a time in an effort to find the right spot to initiate innervations (presumably somewhere along the peroneal nerve) all I got out of the process was a free trial of shock therapy. For these kinds of devices to work, apparently, there must be at least some minimal communication between the brain and the foot, but it appeared from the results of the test that the communication had ceased altogether. Fortunately, it was, if fact, a free trial. The orthopedic store makes it very clear that insurance, including Medicare, will not pay for the device under any circumstances, so before blowing two thousand dollars on something that will not benefit you the test in given to ascertain whether the device is appropriate for the user. I flunked the test and was given an “I” (for incomplete nerve communication, I guess).

Stroke Smart magazine had an advertisement for a simple device designed to treat foot drop, the x-strap which retailed for $39 plus $5 shipping and handling. I wondered to myself whether such a simple device, such an inexpensive simple device, could actually work as well as the custom made acrylic AFO that I had unceremoniously relegated to the scrap heap. It is, indeed, a rather simple device. The stroke victim attaches it to his shoe with shoelaces seamlessly attached to a pair of Velcro straps. After wrapping the lower leg at the ankle with a thin layer of foam designed to hold the Velcro straps in place, the user simply rests the front of the foot on something like a block of wood or maybe even a book, pulls the straps taut while securing them to the foam wraparound. The toe of the foot needing the appliance is automatically raised to a point where it no longer drags on the floor when one tries to walk. The beauty of the X-Strap is in its simplicity. Its feather weight is makes it unobtrusive; it’s not cumbersome like the acrylic AFO. The wraparound also allows your leg to breathe, unlike the form fitting plastic of the typical AFO. But the real genius in the device is that can accommodate you as your condition changes. What I mean by this is every stroke survivor experiences some days where even more assistance than normal is required. The amount of additional lift to the toe is easily managed by adjusting the angle maintained between the ankle and foot simply by how the Velcro straps are applied to the foam wraparound. This could not be accomplished when wearing the rigid $750 variety of orthotic. Another plus is found after one has experienced using it for a while. When I was initially fitted for the custom made AFO, at that time my left lower leg had become severely atrophied from disuse. After two weeks of walking using the plastic AFO, my calf regained some muscle tone, coincidentally increasing in muscle mass and in so doing made the nonflexible orthotic feel too tight! Therefore, if any stroke victim intends on rehabilitating his affected leg by the exercise of ambulation, he should be made aware that that expensive custom made orthotic will soon be obsolete when his lower leg regains strength and maybe regains its normal size. Another plus for the X-Strap over either a custom made or off the shelf orthotic is that it can be adjusted to correct supination problems for the involved foot. The toes on my left foot will not flex upwards at all, worsening the deleterious effects of drop foot.  Additionally, the left ankle, since suffering the stroke, is in a constant state of muscle contraction causing outward supination of the foot so that whenever I try to put my left foot down on the floor it has a tendency to land on the outside edge of my foot rather than on the base of the foot, thus causing me much discomfort along with an accompanying loss in balance. This problem is easily addressed by the x-strap. By placing the foot  on the either a block of wood or a book while simultaneously twisting the foot to the appropriate angle in order to decrease the over supination, the correct position of the foot is maintained by means of the Velcro strips and where they are attached to the wraparound. The foot is, in essence, is manipulated into position and held in place with the result that the foot comes down on its flat surface rather than its edge. The shoelaces provided by the X-Strap can be crisscrossed, while simultaneously attaching the Velcro fasteners more or less around the foam girdle surrounding the ankle. This forces the foot to maintain a better position for the purpose of ambulation. With trial and error one will discover the angle formed between the foot and the ankle required to correct the problems associated with both the lack of toe lift and the over supination. Try to do that with a rigid, non yielding AFO!

The only drawback to using the X-Strap is when trying to transfer it from one shoe to another. Threading the laces through eyelets which are already occupied by the laces dedicated to the actual tying of the shoe is difficult enough.  It’s far more practical to dedicate a separate X-Strap for each shoe you normally wear for walking. Since you may use white sneakers and black dress shoes buying several X-Straps of different colors seems the way to go.

As to durability, my first X-Strap lasted for two years of hard labor, which comes down to about $22 a year if you want to be able to walk the walk without using a cane or leaning on the grocery shopping cart.

Below is a chart comparing some of the appliances available to treat drop foot. My only advice is to try the cheaper gadget first before spending money on either an off the shelf AFO, a custom made AFO, neither of which may work as well as the X-Strap, or for an electronic sensing device, which works for some but not others. Who knows, you may find that the X-Strap works so well that you do not have to spend the extra money for those more sophisticated devices.

*assuming the muscles of your lower leg never increase or decrease in mass substantially

Boyd H., West Melbourne, FL