Ankle proprioception deficit in hockey athletes with previous ankle injury
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Abstract
Objective: To compare the ankle proprioception between hockey athletes who had and had not previous ankle injury.
Methods: Test-retest reliability of ankle proprioception was assessed in 12 volunteered healthy subjects. Seventeenth hockey athletes aged 13-22 years old who had an ankle injury in the past 6 months and fully recovered were recruited to the study. In the same period, hockey athletes who did not suffer from ankle injury were eligible as the control group (n=17). The ankle proprioception was performed via the active angle reproduction test in dorsiflexion (DF), plantarflexion (PF), inversion (IV), and eversion (EV) by using the universal goniometer.
Results: The injured hockey athletes had error score of active position sense in DF (2.06 + 1.29° vs. 1.59 + 0.68°, P = 0.208), PF (1.80 + 0.86° vs. 1.61 + 0.79°, p=0.527) and IV (1.65 + 0.63° vs. 1.68 + 0.74°, P = 0.897) similar to the non-injured athletes. However, the error score of eversion movement (2.32 + 1.56° vs. 1.24 + 0.62°, P = 0.015) showed a significant different between groups.
Conclusion: A proprioception deficit in eversion still existed in the hockey athletes with previous ankle injuries. These defects might deteriorate their ankle stability and consequently worsen their postural control. Therefore, proprioception training is needed to be intervened.