Hm. Holder-powell et Om. Rutherford, Unilateral lower-limb musculoskeletal injury: Its long-term effect on balance, ARCH PHYS M, 81(3), 2000, pp. 265-268
Objective: To assess if any long-term decrements in balance occur after uni
lateral musculoskeletal injury. The relation between the size of decrement
and the dominance, the type, and the time since injury were also considered
.
Design: With eyes open and closed, postural sway in one-legged standing was
recorded for 10 seconds in 48 subjects who sustained a unilateral musculos
keletal injury 6 months to 42 years earlier. Comparative data were also col
lected in 108 healthy subjects with no previous injury.
Setting: A university physiologic laboratory.
Patients: Injured subjects were recruited locally via the district general
hospital, sports injury clinic, and the university, and had not received an
y treatment within the past 6 months.
Main Outcome Measure: Postural sway of the injured and uninjured limb (or d
ominant and nondominant limb in the uninjured subjects).
Results: Postural sway was significantly greater in the injured limb compar
ed with the uninjured limb (p = .0118). The ratio of the postural sway of t
he injured limb compared with the uninjured limb (I/UI%) was significantly
lower in the group with nondominant injuries (p = .0085). Subjects with non
dominant injuries performed significantly better than those with dominant i
njuries (p = .0085). No relation was found between the decrements in balanc
e performance and the type of injury and time since injury.
Conclusions: Full recovery is frequently not achieved and perhaps recovery
does not continue to improve once the formal rehabilitation period is over.