title: Assessment of evertor weakness in patients with chronic ankle instability: Functional versus isokinetic testing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ankle sprain is the most common sport-related injury and eccentric weakness of ankle evertors is regarded as a significant muscular deficit related to chronic ankle instability. However, the eccentric performance of the evertors is rarely assessed by clinicians because procedures used for research purposes (i.e. isokinetic tests) are not easily applicable in daily practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study assessed the ability of two different testing procedures to distinguish between groups of 12 healthy subjects or 12 patients suffering from chronic ankle instability. On the one hand, the strength of evertors was assessed with a goldstandard isokinetic procedure. On the other hand, we assessed the ability of the subjects to control ankle inversion during weight bearing (functional standing test).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data showed no significant difference between groups for isokinetic peak torque values normalized to body weight. Conversely, the functional test revealed a significantly impaired ability to control ankle inversion during weight bearing in subjects with chronic ankle instability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This suggests that this easy-to-apply functional test is better suited compared to isokinetic testing procedures to assess weakness of evertors in patients suffering from chronic ankle instability. Moreover, this test may also be used to objectively monitor improvements during rehabilitation or progression in prevention protocols.
authors.affiliation: University Savoie - Mont BlancEA 7424 - Inter-university Laboratory of Human Movement Science, France; CEVRES Santé, Savoie Technolac, BP 322, 73377 Le Bourget du lac cedex, France. Electronic address: romain.terrier@cevres.com.
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Terrier
authors.affiliation: University of Health Sciences, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Degache
authors.affiliation: Motion Analysis Laboratory, Physiotherapy Department, Hôpital La Tour, Avenue J-D Maillard 3, 1217 Meyrin, Geneve, Switzerland.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fourchet
authors.affiliation: Motion Analysis Laboratory, Physiotherapy Department, Hôpital La Tour, Avenue J-D Maillard 3, 1217 Meyrin, Geneve, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gojanovic
authors.affiliation: University Savoie - Mont BlancEA 7424 - Inter-university Laboratory of Human Movement Science, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Forestier
mesh_terms: D016512:Ankle Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D053581:Muscle Strength Dynamometer; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology; D013180:Sprains and Strains / Q000503:physiopathology; D019415:Torque; D016474:Weight-Bearing; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ankle sprain; Closed kinetic chain; Evertors' strength deficits; Functional test; Isokinetics; Weight bearing