Comparison Between Single and Combined Clinical Postural Stability Tests in Individuals With and Without Chronic Ankle Instability.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if a single or/and combined clinical tests match group membership based on self-reported ankle function.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional.

SETTING: Biomechanics Laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS: From participants, 58 meeting inclusion/exclusion criteria were divided into a chronic ankle instability (CAI) group (n = 25) who reported ≤25 on the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) and a history of moderate-severe ankle sprain(s) and a control group (n = 33) who reported ≥29 on the CAIT and no history of ankle sprain(s).

INTERVENTIONS: Participants completed the following clinical tests: Foot Lift Test (FLT), the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT), the Single-Leg Hop Test (SLHT), and the Time in Balance Test (TIB) in a randomized order. A linear regression model was applied to determine measures that matched ankle group membership.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The mean of SEBT reach distance was normalized to percentage leg length. The mean of number of errors in the FLT was recorded. The SLHT and TIB were reported as time in seconds, and the means were calculated.

RESULTS: The most parsimonious combination of tests (SLHT and SEBT) resulted in correctly matching 70.69% (41/58) of participants into groups, which was significantly better than chance. The multiple correlation coefficients (R value) for combining the SLHT and SEBT was 0.39.

CONCLUSIONS: Using SLHT and SEBT resulted in improved recognition of participants designated into the CAI or control groups. Self-report perception of ankle function provides limited information for clinicians and researchers. Using multiple clinical function tests may be more helpful in determining deficits and intervention effectiveness.