Abstract: Apparatus attaches to the leg at or below the knee to take the shock of walking off the foot and ankle. The foot is encased in a boot. Two spaced-apart tubes extend upward from a subfloor mounted below the boot. The boot is mounted for sliding up and down on the tubes. A pair of parallel elongate rods are attached at their upper ends to the upper portion of the leg at or below the knee, such that the lower ends of the rods are in the tubes. A spring, preferably a gas compression spring, is inserted into each tube so that the lower end of each rod compresses the spring as body weight is put on the subfloor in walking. The subfloor moves toward the boot as the springs are compressed, reducing some of the shock of walking and transferring forces to the leg. The rods may be attached to the leg by a cast, brace or orthosis.