Comparison of dynamic postural stability scores between athletes with and without chronic ankle instability during lateral jump landing.

BACKGROUNDS: Many ankle injuries occur while participating in sports that require jumping and landing such as basketball, volleyball and soccer. Most recent studies have investigated dynamic postural stability of patients with chronic ankle instability after landing from a forward jump. The present study aimed to investigate the dynamic postural stability of the athletes who suffer from chronic ankle sprain while landing from a lateral jump.

METHODS: Twelve athletes with self-reported unilateral chronic ankle instability (4 females and 8 males) and 12 matched controls (3 females and 9 males) voluntarily participated in the study. Dynamic postural stability index and its directional indices were measured while performing lateral jump landing test.

RESULTS: No differences were found between athletes with and without chronic ankle instability during our landing protocol by means of the dynamic postural stability index and its directional indices. Findings showed that in each group, medial/lateral stability index is significantly higher than anterior/posterior and vertical stability indexes.

CONCLUSION: Findings showed that dynamic postural stability was not significantly different between the two groups. Future studies should examine chronic ankle instability patients with more severe disabilities and expose them to more challenging dynamic balance conditions to further explore postural stability.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IIIa.