Effect of a Semirigid Ankle Brace on the In Vivo Kinematics of Patients with Functional Ankle Instability during the Stance Phase of Walking.

Gonghao Zhang,Chen Wang,Xin Ma,Shengxuan Cao,Jiazhang Huang,Chao Zhang,Xu Wang

doi:10.1155/2019/4398469

Abstract

An ankle brace is commonly used by patients after they suffer from initial ankle sprains, reducing the incidents of recurrent sprain or limiting laxity in joints with functional ankle instability (FAI). However, whether the application of a semirigid ankle brace can improve the abnormal ankle gait kinematics of patients with FAI remains unknown. This study aimed to determine the effect of a semirigid ankle brace on the gait kinematics of ankle joints through 3D-2D fluoroscopy image registration. A total of 8 subjects with FAI (3 males and 5 females, 10 feet) as FAI group and 10 subjects without FAI (6 males and 4 females, 10 feet) as control group were enrolled in this study. Three-dimensional bone models created from computed tomography images were matched to fluoroscopic images to compute the 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) talocrural, subtalar, and ankle joints complex kinematics for control and FAI group with or without brace during the stance phase of walking. FAI patients had significantly less ROMs in inversion/eversion rotation of the talocrural and subtalar joint after wearing semirigid ankle brace. Laxity was observed in most of the displacements of the talocrural and subtalar joints in FAI group. The brace partly altered the ankle joints movement in opposite directions, especially joint rotation, and restricted the talocrural and subtalar joints in the dorsiflexion position during the touch down phase of walking.

Highlights

The most common injury encountered in sports is ankle sprain [1], an inversion type [2], which accounts for 33%-73% of the ankle injuries [3]
After initial ankle sprain occurs, almost 35% people exacerbates to functional ankle instability (FAI) [4]
This study aims to determine the effect of a semirigid ankle brace on the gait kinematics of ankle joints through 3D2D fluoroscopy image registration during the stance phase of walking

Summary

Introduction

The most common injury encountered in sports is ankle sprain [1], an inversion type [2], which accounts for 33%-73% of the ankle injuries [3]. Previous kinematic studies showed that ankle brace can influence the kinematics of the foot and the ankle by changing the joint range of motion during passive ankle movement [9,10,11], decreasing the ankle laxity [12], and tolerating a great joint torque force [13]. Kobayashi T et al [11] compared a semirigid ankle brace and taping on patients with chronic ankle instability (CAI) during passive ankle movement. In terms of different designs of an ankle brace, one study [14] compared 10 types of ankle braces that significantly restrict the range of motion in all directions during passive movement and rapidly induce ankle movement compared with nonbraced conditions in patients with CAI. J [15] studied the effect of several ankle braces on patients with FAI during normal gait and found that semirigid and soft ankle

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