Using a Single Uniaxial Gyroscope to Detect Lateral Ankle Sprain Hazard

Daniel T P Fong,Alan H F Lam,Vikki W S Chu,Patrick S H Yung,Yue-Yan Chan

doi:10.1109/jsen.2020.3021855

Daniel T P Fong, Alan H F Lam + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/jsen.2020.3021855

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Abstract

Lateral ankle sprain is very common in sports. Recently, there was a wearable assistive technology that stimulates the peroneal muscles to prevent this injury, but it requires a monitoring system to detect injury hazards and actuate the protection. This study presents the feasibility of a uniaxial gyroscope to monitor the peak ankle inversion velocity during common sporting motion and simulated ankle sprain motion. Ten males performed walking, running, 45-deg cutting, vertical jump-landing, stepping-down from a block, 5 kinds of simulated ankle sprain motion on sprain simulators, and a manual ankle-twisting motion in a biomechanics laboratory. The peak ankle inversion velocity was collected by an optical motion analysis system at 120 Hz. Besides, a uniaxial gyroscope was attached to the heel to collect the peak twisting velocity at 500 Hz. Pearson test showed a strong or high positive correlation between the two parameters. Independent t-test showed no difference between the two parameters in all testing motions except the manual ankle-twisting test which the value was 82% of that from the optical motion capture system and both values are above the threshold, 300 deg/s. We concluded the method is applicable to detect the hazard of lateral ankle sprain injury.

Highlights

LATERAL ankle sprain is very common in sports [1,2]
The peak twisting velocity collected by the gyroscope and the peak ankle inversion velocity collected by the optical motion analysis system from each participant in each testing condition were extracted
Pearson test showed a significant positive strong or high correlation between the peak twisting velocity collected by the gyroscope and the peak ankle inversion velocity collected by the optical motion analysis system (r = 0.693, p < 0.001, Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

LATERAL ankle sprain is very common in sports [1,2]. Inadequate treatment after repeated lateral ankle sprains may lead to chronic ankle instability [3], which may furtherManuscript received August 5, 2020; accepted September 1, 2020. LATERAL ankle sprain is very common in sports [1,2]. Inadequate treatment after repeated lateral ankle sprains may lead to chronic ankle instability [3], which may further. Date of publication MM DD, YYYY; date of current version MM DD, YYYY. The associate editor coordinating the review of this article and approving it for publication was Dr Kazuaki Sawada. (Corresponding author: Patrick S.H. Yung) cause lower leg stiffness [4], greater variation in lower extremity joint coupling [5], post-traumatic osteoarthritis [6], and may further require surgical stabilisation [7] or even total ankle replacement surgery [8]. Preventing ankle sprain injury has been suggested in one of the eight recommendations for future research by the International Ankle Consortium [9], and there are different attempts such as the use of ankle taping [1012], bracing [13], and exercise interventions [14]

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