The Effects of External Bracing on Joint Position Sense Awareness for the Chronically Unstable Ankle

Abstract

Context:The effect of externally bracing chronically unstable ankles on joint position sense awareness has had limited study yet is clinically relevant.Objective:To determine active joint position sense awareness, effects of bracing, and differences between flexible and semirigid braces.Design:Between-ankle-group (chronic and healthy), repeated-measures, including brace condition for the joint position of 15° inversion from subtalar neutral.Setting:Research laboratory.Participants:24 subjects with healthy and 12 with chronically unstable ankles.Main Outcome Measures:Blindfolded subjects attempted to find a passively placedjoint position under conditions of unbraced, flexible, and semirigid braced. A 3-way repeated-measures ANOVA and post hoc Tukey test for significant interaction effects were conducted.Results:Significant main effects were observed for ankle status, brace, and gender, but no significant interaction effects.Conclusion:Chronically unstable ankles have greater error in joint position sense awareness. However, this deficit might be reduced by using an external semirigid brace.