Proprioceptive Impairment and Joint Position Exposure Time in Relation to Patient-Report Outcome With Chronic Ankle Instability

Abstract

Objective

To investigate ankle proprioceptive sensitivity under different position exposure times (PETs) and performance score relationship with the severity of perceived ankle instability in individuals with CAI.

Design

Test-retest reliability, cross-sectional comparative study.

Settings

University laboratory.

Participants

Forty-eight individuals (24 CAI, 24 non-CAI).

Outcome measure

Smartphone Proprioception for Ankle Navigation (SPAN) was used to assess active ankle movement proprioceptive performance under two PET conditions (0.25 s and 1 s). The symptomatic (CAI-SS) and asymptomatic side (CAS-AS) were tested and retested for reliability for CAI group, whilst randomly selected side of non-CAI group was tested once for between-group comparisons. Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) was self-administered to quantify perceived severity of ankle instability.

Results

Longer PET (1.0 s) improved proprioceptive sensitivity in non-CAI and CAI-AS groups but not in CAI-SS. Ankle proprioceptive performance at 1.0 s PET was significantly correlated with CAIT scores. SPAN test-retest reliability was influenced by PET, with similar ICCs for CAI-SS at both PETs but notable differences for CAI-AS.

Conclusion

This study highlights the temporal aspect of proprioceptive impairments associated with CAI as measured with SPAN. Individuals with CAI struggled to utilize prolonged exposure time to enhance proprioceptive sensitivity, and this limitation was significantly associated with the severity of perceived ankle instability.

Keywords

chronic ankle instability proprioception physical therapy neuromuscular control active movement discrimination mobile app technology

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