[The effect of proprioception on functional stability of the upper ankle joint with special reference to stabilizing...

Both ankle joints of 14 uninjured volunteers and 16 patients with unstable ankle joints were tested regarding their proprioceptive capabilities. Three tests were used for the study: single-leg stance test, single-leg jumping course test, angle-reproduction test. The influence of three stabilization devices (lace-on-brace, stirrup-brace, taping) on the proprioceptivity of stable and unstable ankle joints were evaluated as well. The scores of the single-leg jumping course test without any stabilizing device (category "standard") ranged between 8.06 and 13.68 (10.65 +/- 1.29). In the categories "mikros" (9.85 +/- 0.99), "aircast" (9.99 +/- 1.14) and with the tape bandage (category "taping") (10.27 +/- 0.81) the scores were lower. In general, the scores of all trials with orthoses were lower compared to the category "standard". The differences of the categories "standard-mikros" and "standard-aircast" revealed a significant reduction of the scores when applicating these orthoses (p < 0.01). The differences of the category "standard-taping" as well as the single scores between the categories "mikros" and "aircast" were not statistically significant. According to the results of the single-leg stance test the error rate was within the range of 0-16 (5.12 +/- 2.85) for the category "standard", it was lower for the categories "mikros" (3.65 +/- 2.65) and "aircast" (4.17 +/- 2.59). The error rate was highest in the group with applicated tape bandage (5.79 +/- 3.53). The differences between the categories "standard"-"mikros" as well as "standard"-"aircast" were statistically significant (p < 0.01). There was also a significant difference between these categories regarding injured and uninjured ankle joints (p < 0.01). The pair differences of the categories "standard" and "taping" were below the significance level as well as the error rates of the categories "mikros" and "aircast". The ankle-reproduction-test showed higher values for the category "standard" (2.36 degrees +/- 0.97) in comparison to the categories "mikros" (1.46 degrees +/- 0.72). "aircast" (1.62 degrees +/- 0.91) and "taping" (1.84 degrees +/- 0.41). In the category "standard" the reproduction error of the uninjured ankle joints was lower (2.30 degrees +/- 1.04) compared to the group of unstable ankle joints (2.44 degrees +/- 0.81), whereas in all other categories the reproduction error was higher in the group of uninjured joints. The differences in all findings between the categories "standard"-"mikros" and "standard"-"aircast" were statistically significant (p < 0.01). The results of the three tests showed a statistically highly significant difference between injured and uninjured ankle joints (p < 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)