Does fatigue expose functional deficits in chronic lateral ankle sprain?
Aikaterini Karkatselou, Panagiotis Gkrilias, Elias Tsepis
PMID 32082022WHAT IT FOUND
Fatigue made side-to-side balance worse in people with chronic ankle instability, while jump height fell in both injured and healthy legs.
Pre-fatigue balance looked normal, so testing after fatigue may reveal hidden instability.
Key findings
01Fatigue increased side-to-side balance sway significantly in the injured group but not in healthy controls.
02Fatigue significantly influenced single-leg vertical jump height in both groups, and the reported mean heights were lower after fatigue.
03Fatigue did not produce a significant group-by-time interaction for front-to-back sway.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 23 participants were studied, with 12 injured and 11 controls, so the results are preliminary. The injured group was young, had moderate instability, and was pain free at testing, so findings may not apply to older patients, severe instability, or painful ankles. Joint laxity was not assessed by imaging, so structural instability was inferred from history and questionnaires. The mediolateral balance interaction was p=0.050, a borderline result. Vertical jump height decreased in both injured and healthy legs, so jump loss was not specific to ankle instability. The study did not show that fatigued testing predicts re-injury.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the post-fatigue jump drop as a specific sign of ankle instability. Jump height decreased significantly in both the injured group and healthy controls, so that finding was not unique to the injured ankles.