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A nonrandomized 2-group pretest-posttest design.To determine the effects of a 4-week balance training program during stance on a single leg.Individuals who have experienced multiple episodes of inversion ankle sprains often participate in balance training programs. Balance training is performed to treat existing proprioceptive deficits and to restore ankle joint stability, presumably by retraining altered afferent neuromuscular pathways. The effectiveness of such programs on individuals with functionally unstable ankles has yet to be established.Prior to and following training, subjects with self-reported functionally unstable ankles (5 women and 8 men, mean age = 21.9 +/- 3.1 years) and nonimpaired subjects (6 women and 7 men, mean age = 21.2 +/- 2.5 years) completed a static balance assessment for both limbs as well as the ankle joint functional assessment tool questionnaire (AJFAT). The subjects from both groups participated in a unilateral, multilevel, static and dynamic balance training program 3 times a week for 4 weeks. Subjects from the experimental group trained only the involved limb, and the nonimpaired group trained a randomly selected limb. A stability index (SI) was calculated during the balance assessment to indicate the amount of platform motion. Compared to low stability indices, high stability indices indicate greater platform motion during stance and therefore less stability.Following training, subjects from both groups demonstrated significant improvements in balance ability. When balance was assessed at a low resistance to platform tilt (stability level 2), the posttraining scores of both the subjects with unstable ankles (mean SI = 2.63 +/- 1.92) and the nonimpaired subjects (mean SI = 2.69 +/- 2.32) were significantly better than their pretraining scores (mean SIs = 5.93 +/- 3.65 and 4.67 +/- 3.43, respectively). Assessed at a high resistance to platform tilt (stability level 6), the posttraining scores of both subjects with unstable ankles (mean SI = 1.27 +/- 0.66) and the nonimpaired subjects (mean SI = 1.37 +/- 0.66) were significantly better than their pretraining scores (mean SIs = 2.30 +/- 1.88 and 2.04 +/- 1.43, respectively). Additionally, the posttraining AJFAT scores of subjects with unstable ankles (25.78 +/- 3.80) and the nonimpaired subjects (29.15 +/- 5.27) were significantly greater than their pretraining scores (17.11 +/- 3.44 and 22.92 +/- 5.22, respectively), indicating an overall improvement in perceived ankle joint functional stability.This study suggests that balance training is an effective means of improving joint proprioception and single-leg standing ability in subjects with unstable and nonimpaired ankles.

The purpose of this study was to determine the proprioceptive effects of ankle bracing and taping. Proprioception was assessed in 26 subjects by evaluating ankle joint position sense, which was determined by the subjects' ability to actively reproduce a passively positioned joint angle. Testing was performed at positions of 30° of plantar flexion and 15° of inversion. Each subject underwent four trials at each test angle under three conditions: braced, taped, and control. For the plantar flexion test, both the braced condition and the taped condition significantly enhanced joint position sense when compared to the control condition. There was no significant difference between the braced and taped conditions. For the inversion test, the taped condition significantly enhanced joint position sense compared to the control condition. There was no significant difference between the braced and the control conditions or between the braced and the taped conditions. This study demonstrates that ankle bracing and taping improve joint position sense in the stable ankle.

Proprioception and accompanying neuromuscular feedback mechanisms provide an important component for the establishment and maintenance of functional joint stability. Neuromuscular control and joint stabilisation is mediated primarily by the central nervous system. Multisite sensory input, originating from the somatosensory, visual and vestibular systems, is received and processed by the brain and spinal cord. The culmination of gathered and processed information results in conscious awareness of joint position and motion, unconscious joint stabilisation through protective spinal-mediated reflexes and the maintenance of posture and balance. Clinical research aimed at determining the effects of articular musculoskeletal injury, surgery and rehabilitation, on joint proprioception, neuromuscular control and balance has focused on the knee and ankle joints. Such studies have demonstrated alterations in proprioception subsequent to capsulo-ligamentous injury, partial restoration of proprioceptive acuity following ligamentous reconstruction, and have suggested beneficial proprioceptive changes resulting from comprehensive rehabilitation programmes.