Keywords
Health Care Competency, Preventing musculoskeletal injuries
Abstract
Ankle sprains are among the most common injuries in sports and non-sporting activities. For patients, ankle sprains can result in multiple short and long-term hardships, such as financial burdens of evaluation and treatment, absenteeism from sport and physical activity, and diminished ankle and lower extremity function. However, athletic trainers and other stakeholders are also impacted by administrative and time burdens in caring for ankle sprains and how ankle sprains affect team dynamics and performance. The 2022 guiding systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of incorporating preventive balance training exercises on the incidence of ankle sprains in soccer athletes. The search performed by the guiding systematic review identified 9 studies from 4 online article repositories to pool and evaluate. Each of the included studies compared experimental and control protocols. Ankle sprain prevention programs focused on balance training revealed a 41% reduction in ankle injuries per 1,000 hours of exposure to exercise versus control interventions. A 42% decline in ankle sprains occurred in males, while a 15% decline occurred in females when performing a balance training program. A targeted ankle sprain prevention protocol as a component of warm-up and training sessions can reduce ankle sprains in soccer athletes. When developing an ankle sprain injury prevention program, the healthcare professional should create a multi-month strategy with a minimum goal of 2+ days per week emphasizing multimodal activities that challenge multiple body systems, proprioceptive exercises, and participant compliance.
Recommended Citation
Tomchuk, David; Meyer, Jacob; Schneider, Kyle; and Fox, Ben
(2025)
"Incorporating Balance Training into Ankle Sprain Injury Prevention Programs: An Evidence-to-Practice Review,"
Clinical Practice in Athletic Training: Vol. 8:
Iss.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/clinat/vol8/iss2/3
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