Gender difference of ankle stability in the sagittal and frontal planes.

This paper offers quantification of ankle stability in relation to simulated haptic environments of varying stiffness. This study analyzes the stability trends of male and female subjects independently over a wide range of simulated environments after subjects were exposed to vigorous position perturbation. Ankle stability was quantified for both degrees-of-freedom of the ankle in the sagittal and frontal planes. Subjects' stability consistently decreased when exposed to environments of negative simulated stiffness. In the frontal plane, male and female subjects exhibited nearly identical stability levels. In the sagittal plane, however, male subjects demonstrated marginally more stability than female subjects in environments with negative stiffness. Results of this study are beneficial to understanding situations in which the ankle is likely to lose stability, potentially resulting in injury.