A randomized controlled trial on providing ankle-foot orthoses in patients with (sub-)acute stroke: Short-term kinematic and spatiotemporal effects and effects of timing

•Few studies investigated effects of actual AFO-provision early after stroke.•We studied effects of AFO-provision and timing of the provision early after stroke.•Ankle kinematics and spatiotemporal parameters improved after AFO-provision.•AFO-provision did not affect compensatory movement strategies around hip and pelvis.•Early or delayed AFO-provision after stroke did not influence our results.