Metal leg braces are all too familiar to the victims of such disorders as muscular dystrophy or polio. The double-bar braces are heavy and clumsy, with a stirrup under the instep, and they induce muscle atrophy by permitting the foot to move only up and down. In normal walking, the body's weight tends to throw the heel of each foot alternately either outward or inward, depending on the terrain, but such movement is prevented by the conventional brace.
A lightweight, one-sided brace that allows far more freedom of movement and more natural walking has now been introduced at the University...
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