Proprioception and Muscle Strength in Subjects With a History of Ankle Sprains and Chronic Instability

摘要

>Objective: To examine if patients with chronic ankle instability or a history of ankle sprains without chronic instability have worse proprioception or less invertor and evertor muscle strength.>Design and Setting: We assessed proprioception and muscle strength on the Biodex isokinetic dynamometer in the laboratory of the Department of Sports Medicine, University Hospital Ghent.>Subjects: Subjects included 87 physical education students (44 men, 43 women, age = 18.33 ± 1.25 years, mass = 66.09 ± 8.11 kg, height = 174.11 ± 8.57 cm) at the University of Ghent in Belgium. Their ankles were divided into 4 groups: a symptom-free control group, subjects with chronic ankle instability, subjects who had sustained an ankle sprain in the last 2 years without instability, and subjects who sustained an ankle sprain 3 to 5 years earlier without instability.>Measurements: Active and passive joint-position sense was assessed at the ankle, and isokinetic peak torque was determined for concentric and eccentric eversion and inversion movements at the ankle.>Results: Statistical analysis indicated significantly less accurate active position sense for the instability group compared with the control group at a position close to maximal inversion. The instability group also showed a significantly lower relative eversion muscle strength (% body weight). No significant differences were observed between the control group and the groups with past sprains without instability.>Conclusions: We suggest that the possible cause of chronic ankle instability is a combination of diminished proprioception and evertor muscle weakness. Therefore, we emphasize proprioception and strength training in the rehabilitation program for ankle instability.