Effect of varied dorsiflexion range of motion on landing biomechanics in chronic ankle instability

Review written by Dr Chris Bleakley info

Key Points

  1. About half of patients with chronic ankle instability have either hypo or hypermobile ankle dorsiflexion (DF).
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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is characterized by pain, feelings of instability, and recurrent injury. Its etiology is multifaceted and may be due to mechanical, sensorimotor and psychosocial factors. Earlier work by Han and colleagues (1) found that participants with CAI presented with a range of movement faults when undertaking athletic tasks, which could predispose to recurrent injury and poor long-term joint health. A logical, but previously untested theory, is that some of the aberrant movement patterns observed in CAI, are due to altered joint mechanics, particularly restricted sagittal plane motion at the ankle joint.

In the current study, Han et al recorded landing biomechanics in a sample of active participants with CAI. They hypothesized that their task performance would vary based on their static dorsiflexion range of motion (DFROM).

Chronic ankle instability’s etiology is multifaceted and may be due to mechanical, sensorimotor and psychosocial factors.
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Re-establishing dorsiflexion range of motion optimizes the degrees of freedom available during landing tasks, reduces joint forces, and creates more stability.

METHODS

  • This was a cross sectional study undertaken in a laboratory setting.
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