CAI: More on Chronic Ankle Instability.

More peroneii action! In folks with chronic ankle instability, it contracts earlier, longer (throughout stance phase) but not stronger…This article looks at activation times and patterns of folks with chronic ankle instability. 

One should never wonder why repeated ankle sprains occur. We have hit this topic hard in the past.  Chronic Ankle Instability (CAI) clients exhibit prioprioceptive and postural control challenges. According to this article, additionally, CAI clients have gait. 

“Time of activation for all muscles tested occurred earlier in the CAI group than in the control group. The peroneus longus was activated for a longer duration across the entire stride cycle in the CAI group.”

“Individuals with CAI demonstrated neuromuscular-activation strategies throughout the lower extremity that were different from those of healthy control participants. ”

Did you see our trademark “goto” exercise in yesterday’s social media Facebook blog post ?  It is a keeper if you ask us.  Don’t ignore chronic peroneal challenges, they will come back to haunt you.

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Lower Extremity Muscle Activation in Patients With or Without Chronic Ankle Instability.  Mark A. Feger, MEd, ATC; Luke Donovan, MEd, ATC; Joseph M. Hart, PhD, ATC; Jay Hertel, PhD, ATC, FNATA, FACSM Department of Kinesiology, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville

http://www.natajournals.com/doi/abs/10.4085/1062-6050-50.2.06 

Results:  Time of activation for all muscles tested occurred earlier in the CAI group than in the control group. The peroneus longus was activated for a longer duration across the entire stride cycle in the CAI group (36.0% ± 10.3%) than the control group (23.3% ± 22.2%; P = .05). No differences were noted between groups for measures of electromyographic amplitude at either preinitial or postinitial contact (P > .05).

Conclusions:  We identified differences between the CAI and control groups in the timing of muscle activation relative to heel strike in multiple lower extremity muscles and in the percentage of activation time across the entire stride cycle in the peroneus longus muscle. Individuals with CAI demonstrated neuromuscular-activation strategies throughout the lower extremity that were different from those of healthy control participants. Targeted therapeutic interventions for CAI may need to be focused on restoring normal neuromuscular function during gait.