Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2026
Evaluating Postural Control and Lower-extremity Muscle Activation in Individuals with Chronic Ankle Instability
Published on: September 18, 2020
Effect of attention focus on acquisition and retention of postural control following ankle sprain
Yocheved Laufer1, Nirit Rotem-Lehrer, Zohar Ronen
1Department of Physical Therapy, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. yocheved@research.haifa.ac.il
Objective:
To examine the effect of attentional focus instructions and dynamic balance training on ankle sprain recovery.
Design:
Randomized controlled trial.
Setting:
Outpatient physical therapy department.
Participants:
Forty volunteers (age range, 19-33y) referred to treatment within 4 months after sustaining a grade 1 or 2 ankle sprain with no concurrent impairments. Participants were randomly allocated to 1 of 2 groups differing in training instructions.
Intervention:
Postural control training consisted of ten 20-second trials, performed on 3 consecutive days, at 2 stability levels of the Biodex Stability System (BSS). Training instructions directed the participants to either an internal or an external focus of attention. Assessments were conducted on the BSS pre- and post-training, and 48 hours after the last session (retention test).
Main Outcome Measures:
Overall stability as indicated by variance in platform displacement in all directions; anteroposterior (AP) variance of platform displacement; and mediolateral variance of platform displacement.
Results:
Increases in overall and AP stability were observed immediately following training in both groups and were maintained at the retention test. Interaction effect indicates greater improvement in the external-focus group.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that external focus of attention is advantageous for the learning of a postural control task following an ankle injury.
