Short-Term Effects of Balance Training with Stroboscopic Vision for Patients with Chronic Ankle Instability: A Single-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial.

Kyung-Min Kim,María D. Estudillo-Martínez,Alejandro Estepa-Gallego,Yolanda Castellote-Caballero,David Cruz-Díaz

doi:10.3390/ijerph18105364

Abstract

Chronic Ankle Instability (CAI) is one of the most common musculoskeletal dysfunctions. Stroboscopic vision (SV) training has been deemed to enhance somatosensorial pathways in this population group; nevertheless, until recently no studies have addressed the additional effects of this treatment option to the traditional therapeutic approach. Methods: To evaluate the effectiveness of a partial visual deprivation training protocol in patients with CAI, a randomized controlled trial was carried out. Patients with CAI (n = 73) were randomized into either a balance training, SV training, or a control (no training) group. For participants assigned into training groups, they received 18 training sessions over 6 weeks. The primary outcome was dynamic balance as measured by the Star Excursion Balance Test assessed at baseline and after 6 weeks of intervention. Secondary outcome measures included ankle dorsiflexion range of motion, self-reported instability feeling, and ankle functional status. Results: Better scores in stroboscopic training and balance training groups in all outcome measures were observed in comparison with the control group with moderate to large effect sizes. Stroboscopic training was more effective than neuromuscular training in self-reported instability feeling (cohen’s d = 0.71; p = 0.042) and anterior reach distance of the star excursion balance test (cohen’s d = 1.23; p = 0.001). Conclusions: Preliminary findings from the effects of SV Stroboscopic training in patients with CAI, suggest that SV may be beneficial in CAI rehabilitation.

Highlights

Ankle inversion sprain is one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries associated with sports practice [1,2]
This may lead to residual symptoms after the first ankle sprain episode including recurrent episodes of giving way, chronic pain and swelling, subjective instability feeling and is associated with altered arthrokinematics, reduced ankle dorsiflexion range of motion (DFROM), and sensorimotor deficits which have been termed as chronic ankle instability (CAI) [4]
In the baseline analysis the mean and the standard deviation and the absolute and relative frequency are shown for each variable, for each group, and the total number of individuals. Both groups were similar at baseline for all dependent and sociodemographic variables (Tables 1 and 3). In both balance training (BT) group and group Balance Training and Stroboscopic Vision (BTSV), there are significant differences in the mean of all variables comparing the values at the beginning and end of the study, so that the value of the mean end of the study is greater than at the beginning in all the variables

Summary

Introduction

Ankle inversion sprain is one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries associated with sports practice [1,2]. The principal mechanism of injury consists of a sudden inversion movement in the ankle joint which can affect the ankle joint structures as well as the somatosensory system [3]. This may lead to residual symptoms after the first ankle sprain episode including recurrent episodes of giving way, chronic pain and swelling, subjective instability feeling and is associated with altered arthrokinematics, reduced ankle dorsiflexion range of motion (DFROM), and sensorimotor deficits which have been termed as chronic ankle instability (CAI) [4]. It has been reported that patients with CAI present altered postural control, muscle activation ratio, and impaired proprioception [5,6]. The reduction in somatosensory utilization in those with CAI due to

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion