Joint position sense in the recurrently sprained ankle

Functional instability of the ankle joint following an acute sprain has been well documented. The present study measured joint position sense of the ankle in subjects who had sustained recurrent ankle sprains but no sprain for at least three months prior to testing, and compared them with uninjured subjects. The testing device, a pedal goniometer, attempted to replicate the most common position of ankle injury (plantarflexion/inversion). Joint position sense was assessed using active and passive methods for reproducing predetermined positions in ankle inversion in plantarflexion. In both groups, passive judgment of joint position was more accurate than active judgment. Significant differences were recorded with the recurrently sprained ankle demonstrating greater errors in joint position sense for all passive testing positions.