Ernie’s Step-Smart Brace Experience

Meet Ernie!

Ernie was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2000, which caused his drop foot to develop. Since then, Ernie has done tireless research on drop foot braces and devices to find one to best suit his needs.

Two devices that Ernie has employed are the Hip Flexion Assist Device (HFAD) and Flop Stop. With the HFAD, Ernie finds that he is locking his leg up and hiking his hip in order for his foot to clear the ground. Because his gait is affected, Ernie experiences pain and discomfort in his legs and back. The Flop Stop provides easier foot clearance and is more discreet, but this device puts an uncomfortable amount of pressure on Ernie’s Achilles. His creative solution for a more comfortable fit was to make a custom piece that cupped around and protected the back of his ankle.

In all of his research and trials, Ernie still had not found a brace that provided the necessary support and lift to better assist and control his pace and gait while walking on steeper downward slopes. Still feeling dissatisfied with the Drop Foot braces and devices that he had tried so far, Ernie continued to search the web for solutions.

Ernie rediscovered Insightful Products and our Step-Smart Brace for Drop Foot. In earlier research, he had come across the Step-Smart brace but at that time decided to try a different AFO. He explained that he had reservations regarding the shorter foot plate on our Step-Smart brace, as all the other braces he had seen had full-length foot plates. After reading more about the Step-Smart Brace and watching many of the testimonials of other Step-Smart users, Ernie decided to try one for himself.

Earlier this past summer, we had the pleasure of welcoming Ernie to our headquarters, in Scarborough, Maine, for a consultation with Ian Engleman, CPO, inventor of the Step-Smart Brace and founder and owner of Insightful Products! Ernie drove up from Rhode Island to learn more about the Step-Smart and see if it would suit his drop foot needs.

After learning about the other devices he had tried, it was finally time to get Ernie in a Step-Smart Brace for Drop Foot!

Within minutes, it was thrilling to see the difference the Step-Smart made: Ernie found that his gait was already normalizing and he had the lift and support in his foot and ankle to allow for better heel strike. With a more normalized gait and better control of his dropping foot, enabled by the Step-Smart, Ernie found that his knee and leg pain was immediately reduced. With more stability in each step, Ernie took on the steep embankment outside our facility and not only walked up but back down again unassisted and with confidence and control.

Watch the video below to below to watch Ernie’s Experience!