title: Wobble Board Rehabilitation for Improving Balance in Ankles With Chronic Instability.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To quantify improvements in clinical impairments using a wobble board rehabilitation protocol for chronic ankle instability (CAI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective randomized controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  Laboratory.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-four participants with "giving way" and history of ankle sprains were randomly assigned to a rehabilitation group (REH) (170.22 ± 8.71 cm; 75.57 ± 13.55 kg; 22.94 ± 2.77 years) or control group (CON) (168.57 ± 9.81 cm; 77.19 ± 19.93 kg; 23.18 ± 3.64 years).
  
  
  METHODS
  Four weeks with no intervention for CON or wobble board rehabilitation for REH, consisting of 3 sessions per week of 5 repetitions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dependent variables were preintervention and postintervention score on foot lift test (average number of errors), Time-in-Balance Test (TBT) (longest time), Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT)-anteromedial, medial, and posteromedial (average reach distance normalized to leg length), side hop test (fastest time), and figure-of-eight hop test (fastest time).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Main effects for time were significant for all measures (P < 0.05); but main effects for groups were not (P > 0.05) except for SEBT-anteromedial reach direction. Significant interactions were found for all dependent measures (P < 0.05) except for TBT (P > 0.05). Post hoc testing of significant interactions showed REH improved performance at posttest, whereas CON did not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings demonstrate that a single intervention using a wobble board improved static and dynamic balance deficits associated with CAI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This approach provides a potentially more economical, time efficient, and space efficient means of improving clinical outcome measures associated with CAI in patients who are physically active.
authors.affiliation: *Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia; †University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina; and ‡Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana.
authors.forename: Shelley W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Linens
authors.forename: Scott E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: Brent L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Arnold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult