Ankle Sprains & Foot Positioning

Foot Position determines the likelihood whilst walking and running to the risk of spraining an ankle. Ankle sprains are a very common complaint that almost everyone will have suffered at some point during their lives. Problems arise when this leads to chronic instability and repeated sprains and long term increased susceptibility to osteoarthritis in the joint.
A new American study looking into why people are more prone to repetitive ankle sprains then others has used state of the art motion capture equipment to analyse this phenomenon.
The study demonstrated the movement of the foot whilst walking and running in all 3-planes of ankle movement. They found that in participants with chronic ankle instability that they had lower clearance heights between their feet and the floor during running and pointed their toes down more during walking.
These findings then allow a more focused rehabilitative plan to be made in order to focus of these movements that are being ignored that will help prevent future instability or sprain.

Details of these findings are published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.


Patrick Ryder
Masters in Chiro