I think it all depended on the basic cause. For me, motor neuropathy prevented the nerves to send the proper signal to the muscle. Essentially, all the exercise in the world is not going to stop the loss of MY muscle, but exercise does help strengthen the muscle fibers not effected and this all help in mobility. Atrophy is basically going to happen in this situation until, if ever, the motor neuropathy resolves. I can say for certain, the braces did not cause the atophy and allowed me to at least stand to walk without falling. This week, I noticed I am getting movement in my calf muscles and some muscle mass is returning, all wonderful news. My quads are still weak, but now I am hopeful they will follow in return. It took me 11 months to got from foot drop to wheel chair. This is not typical and kind of frightenening.

I guess the bottom line is if you trip over your toes and break a hip or leg, atophy will occur as you recover from your injury. You also do not need to be snapping your ankle. Think safety.