The influence of foot positioning on ankle sprains

The goal of this study was to examine the influence of changes in foot posi tioning at touch-down on ankle sprain occurrence. Muscle model driven compu ter simulations of 10 subjects performing the landing phase of a side-shuff le movement were performed The relative subtalar joint and talocural joint angles at touchdown were varied, and each subject-specific simulation was e xposed to a set of perturbed floor conditions. The touchdown subtalar joint angle was not found to have a considerable influence on sprain occurrence, while increased touchdown plantar flexion caused increased ankle sprain oc currences. Increased touchdown plantar flexion may be the mechanism which c auses ankles with a history of ankle sprains to have an increased susceptib ility to subsequent sprains, This finding may also reveal a mechanism by wh ich taping of a sprained ankle or the application of an ankle brace leads t o decreased ankle sprain susceptibility, (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.