Sugimoto Yuki A, McKeon Patrick O, Rhea Christopher K, Mattacola Carl G, Ross Scott E
Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Department of Exercise Science and Athletic Training, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
Gait Posture. 2025 May;118:69-74. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2025.01.024. Epub 2025 Feb 1.
Less flexible and adaptable sensorimotor systems associated with Chronic Ankle Instability (CAI) limit the detection of relevant sensory feedback information, resulting in decreased movement variability. Consequently, when faced with challenging environmental constraints, particularly with conditions that manipulate sensory feedback, individuals with CAI may become more prone to repetitive ankle sprains. This study aimed to investigate the neural control underlying postural control in the injured-limb during increased environmental constraints with sensory feedback manipulations in individuals with and without CAI, respectively.
Forty-two individuals with and without CAI participated in the study and completed the sensory organization test (SOT). The SOT assesses the ability to integrate primary sensory feedback across six conditions that manipulate somatosensory and visual feedback with a combination of a sway-referenced support surface and visual surroundings. The nonlinear method of sample entropy (SampEN) was used to quantify the neural control underlying postural control. A one-way ANOVA examined group differences in neural control during the SOT conditions while standing on the injured-limb.
Individuals with CAI demonstrated significantly lower SampEN while maintaining posture in conditions where they were forced to rely exclusively on vestibular feedback in the injured-limb compared to healthy controls (P < 0.05).
Individuals with CAI did not demonstrate decreased movement variability (neural control) in most of the six SOT conditions. However, the CAI group exhibited decreased movement variability, specifically when they had to rely on vestibular feedback while maintaining posture in the injured-limb compared to healthy controls. Future studies should investigate how manipulation of vestibular feedback affects movement variability with gait in individuals with CAI.
与慢性踝关节不稳（CAI）相关的感觉运动系统灵活性和适应性降低，限制了对相关感觉反馈信息的检测，导致运动变异性下降。因此，当面临具有挑战性的环境限制时，尤其是在操纵感觉反馈的情况下，患有CAI的个体可能更容易反复发生踝关节扭伤。本研究旨在分别调查在感觉反馈操纵的环境限制增加时，有和没有CAI的个体在患侧肢体姿势控制背后的神经控制。
42名有和没有CAI的个体参与了该研究，并完成了感觉组织测试（SOT）。SOT评估在六种条件下整合主要感觉反馈的能力，这些条件通过结合摇摆参考支撑面和视觉环境来操纵体感和视觉反馈。采用样本熵（SampEN）的非线性方法来量化姿势控制背后的神经控制。单向方差分析检查了在SOT条件下患侧肢体站立时神经控制的组间差异。
与健康对照组相比，患有CAI的个体在患侧肢体仅依靠前庭反馈维持姿势的条件下，SampEN显著降低（P < 0.05）。
在六个SOT条件中的大多数情况下，患有CAI的个体并未表现出运动变异性（神经控制）降低。然而，与健康对照组相比，CAI组在患侧肢体维持姿势时必须依靠前庭反馈时，运动变异性降低。未来的研究应调查前庭反馈的操纵如何影响患有CAI的个体步态中的运动变异性。
