title: Predicting balance improvements following STARS treatments in chronic ankle instability participants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sensory Targeted Ankle Rehabilitation Strategies that stimulate sensory receptors improve postural control in chronic ankle instability participants. However, not all participants have equal responses. Therefore, identifying predictors of treatment success is needed to improve clinician efficiency when treating chronic ankle instability. Therefore, the purpose was to identify predictors of successfully improving postural control in chronic ankle instability participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary data analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-nine participants with self-reported chronic ankle instability participated. The condition was defined as a history of at least two episodes of "giving way" within the past 6 months; and limitations in self-reported function as measured by the Foot and Ankle Ability Measure. Participants were randomized into three treatment groups (plantar massage, ankle joint mobilization, calf stretching) that received 6, 5-min treatment sessions over a 2-week period. The main outcome measure was treatment success, defined as a participant exceeding the minimal detectable change score for a clinician-oriented single limb balance test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants with ≥3 balance test errors had a 73% probability of treatment success following ankle joint mobilizations. Participants with a self-reported function between limb difference <16.07% and who made >2.5 errors had a 99% probability of treatment success following plantar massage. Those who sustained ≥11 ankle sprains had a 94% treatment success probability following calf stretching.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-reported functional deficits, worse single limb balance, and number of previous ankle sprains are important characteristics when determining if chronic ankle instability participants will have an increased probability of treatment success.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA. Electronic address: wikstrom@unc.edu.
authors.forename: Erik A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Wikstrom
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: McKeon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016512:Ankle Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D000843:Ankle Joint; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage; D052580:Muscle Stretching Exercises; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D057566:Self Report; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013180:Sprains and Strains / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Joint instability; Joint mobilization; Massage; Musculoskeletal manipulations; Static stretching