Comparison of the effect of foot orthoses on Star Excursion Balance Test performance in patients with chronic ankle instability.

BACKGROUND: Chronic ankle instability as a prevalent consequence of ankle sprain causes various impairments such as balance and postural control deficits. Foot orthoses are one of the common interventions for rehabilitation of patients with chronic ankle instability.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of custom-molded foot orthoses with textured surfaces on dynamic balance of chronic ankle instability patients and to compare their effects with other types of foot orthoses.

STUDY DESIGN: This is a repeated measure design.

METHODS: A total of 30 participants were recruited based on the guideline introduced by the International Ankle Consortium. The effect of prefabricated, custom-molded, and custom-molded with textured surface foot orthoses was evaluated on dynamic balance by the Star Excursion Balance Test. Normalized reach distances in anteromedial, medial, and posteromedial directions of the test were computed to be used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: The foot orthoses increased reach distances compared to the no-orthosis conditions in all three directions. The custom-molded with textured surface foot orthosis has significant differences compared with prefabricated foot orthosis ( p = 0.001) in all measured directions and with custom-molded foot orthosis ( p < 0.01) in medial and posteromedial directions.

CONCLUSION: Foot orthoses improve reach distances in patients with chronic ankle instability. Custom-molded with textured surface foot orthosis has a more pronounced effect compared with other foot orthoses. Clinical relevance The custom-molded foot orthosis with textured surface could be an effective device to improve dynamic balance in chronic ankle instability (CAI) patients. It may be considered as an efficient intervention to reduce ankle sprain recurrence in these individuals, although further research should be conducted.