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Comparative Study
. 2008 Jul-Aug;43(4):342-6.
doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-43.4.342.

Functional performance testing in participants with functional ankle instability and in a healthy control group

Amanda S Buchanan  1 , Carrie L Docherty, John Schrader
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Functional performance testing in participants with functional ankle instability and in a healthy control group

Amanda S Buchanan et al. J Athl Train. 2008 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Context: Functional ankle instability (FAI) affects a large part of the population. Inconsistent findings have been reported regarding the existence of functional performance deficits in individuals with FAI.

Objective: To examine functional performance in participants with FAI compared with participants in a control group during 2 hopping tests.

Design: Case-control study.

Settings: Athletic training research laboratory.

Patients or other participants: There were 40 college-aged individuals who participated in our study: 20 with FAI and 20 without FAI. We defined FAI as history of an ankle sprain and residual episodes of "giving way."

Intervention(s): Participants completed 2 functional performance tests (FPTs): the single-limb hopping and the single-limb hurdle tests.

Main outcome measure(s): Time to complete each test was recorded. Following each FPT, participants were asked if their ankles felt unstable during the test.

Results: We found no difference between participants in the FAI and control groups for the hopping or hurdle tests (P > .05). When asked if their ankles felt unstable during the FPTs, approximately half of the participants in the FAI group and none of the participants in the control group reported a feeling of instability. Subsequently, a secondary analysis of variance was calculated with participants grouped into 3 categories: control participants, FAI participants reporting instability symptoms during FPT (FAI-S), and FAI participants not reporting instability symptoms during FPT (FAI-NS). Results revealed a difference among the 3 groups for the single-limb hopping test (P < .01). Post hoc analysis revealed a difference between the FAI-S participants and both the control and the FAI-NS participants. No difference was identified for the single-limb hurdle test (P = .41).

Conclusions: The FAI-S participants had performance deficits during the single-limb hopping test. Therefore, clinicians could use this simple hopping test as an additional method to determine the presence of FAI.

Keywords: agility; ankle injuries; assessment.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Single-limb hopping test.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Single-limb hurdle test.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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