ABSTRACT
Objectives: The ankle kinematic characteristics of chronic ankle instability (CAI) at different gait phases and dimensions were not directly and overall explained. These characteristics have yet to be established. This study aimed to observe ankle kinematic changes of CAI, and explore their mechanisms, at different gait phases and dimensions in full gait cycle. Methods: A three-dimensional (3D) motion capture system measured the 3D ankle movements of 53 individuals with CAI (meanage = 25.11 ± 6.01years, meanheight = 170.77 ± 7.80 cm, meanmass = 64.28 ± 9.28 kg) and 53 healthy controls (meanage = 24.66 ± 6.32 years, meanheight = 169.98 ± 9.00 cm, meanmass = 63.11 ± 9.62 kg) during barefoot walking overground at a self-selected speed. Once the acquisition results were processed with visual 3D software, the kinematics data were exported, and the eight phases of the gait cycle were identified. Results: As compared with the control group, individuals with CAI displayed a significantly smaller plantarflexion in toe off (P = 0.049, Cohen's d = 0.387), a significantly increased inversion in heel strike (P = 0.007, Cohen's d = 0.271) and initial swing (P = 0.035, Cohen's d = 0.233), mid-swing (P = 0.019, Cohen's d = 0.232) and end-swing (P = 0.021, Cohen's d = 0.214), and significantly smaller eversion in mid stanceï¼P = 0.010, Cohen's d = 0.288ï¼and heel off (P = 0.033, Cohen's d = 0.089). Significant between-group differences in ankle kinematics were observed in the sagittal and frontal planes, but not in the horizontal plane, during walking. Conclusion: When walking, patients with CAI have altered sagittal- and frontal-plane kinematics during different stance and swing phases. These kinematic changes require multi-dimensional, dynamic, continuous functional assessment and specialized rehabilitation intervention.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the effect and mechanism of preventing ankle instability through exer-cise, so as to provide evidence-based references for practice. Methods The randomized and controlled trials ( RCT) on preventing ankle instability through exercise published before December 2014 were searched for in the NCBI, CNKI, VIP and Wanfang databases by computer, supplemented by manual searching. Each study′s quality was evaluated according to the standards of the Cochrane handbook by 3 researchers. The outcome indexes were ex-tracted and analyzed using RevMan 5.2 software. Results After the initial selection, 665 papers (357 in English and 308 in Chinese) were retained. From these 92 were chosen after reading the titles and abstracts. Ultimately, 14 RCT studies ( 12 in English and 2 in Chinese) met the inclusion criteria. They showed that exercise improved ankle function and symptoms of ankle instability significantly [SMD=0.98, 95%CI (0.65,1.31), P≤0.01], improved muscle strength [SMD=1.50, 95%CI (0.99,2.01), P≤0.01], improved balance and postural stability [SMD=-0.54, 95%CI (-0.84,-0.25) ,P≤0.01] , but did not improve proprioception or neuromuscular functioning sig-nificantly. Conclusions Exercise can effectively improve muscle strength, balance and postural stability, but not proprioception or neuromuscular functioning. The details of these findings may be related to the exercise intervention chosen.
