Effects of chronic ankle instability and induced mediolateral muscular fatigue of the ankle on competitive taekwondo athletes.
Myeounggon Lee, Changhong Youm, Minji Son and 2 others
PMID 28878457WHAT IT FOUND
Taekwondo athletes with chronic ankle instability landed with less ankle eversion and external rotation and less knee shock absorption than controls.
After fatigue, controls changed landing angles and loading rate; athletes with instability did not change loading rate.
Key findings
01Athletes with CAI had lower ankle eversion and external rotation at maximum knee flexion than controls both before and after fatigue.
02Athletes with CAI had lower eccentric work at the knee than controls before and after fatigue, and lower hip eccentric work after fatigue.
03After fatigue, peak vertical ground reaction force fell in both groups, loading rate fell only in controls, and knee eccentric work rose in both groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 28 participants were studied, all men, so findings may not apply to women or broader populations. Controls were recreational exercisers, not taekwondo athletes without CAI, because healthy taekwondo athletes were hard to recruit. Outcomes were lab biomechanics, not sprain or giving-way events, so they do not prove injury risk. Fatigue was induced on an isokinetic dynamometer at 60°/s and landing used only a 40 cm box; different speeds or heights may change results. Muscle activation was not measured.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that ankle fatigue causes recurrent sprains in athletes with chronic ankle instability. The study measured single-leg drop landing biomechanics in 28 male taekwondo participants and did not track sprains or giving-way episodes.