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The present study demonstrates that MAI is characterised by impairments of ankle-joint control in close-to-injury situations. This could make these individuals more prone to recurrent ankle sprains, and suggests the need for additional mechanical support such as braces or even surgery. In addition, the study highlights the fact that dynamic experimental test conditions in the acting participant are needed to further unravel the mystery of chronic ankle instability.

IntroductionOsteoarthritis of the knee affects millions of people. Elastic knee sleeves aim at relieving symptoms. While symptomatic improvements have been demonstrated as a consequence of elastic knee sleeves, evidence for biomechanical alterations only exists for the sagittal plane. We therefore asked what effect an elastic knee sleeve would have on frontal plane gait biomechanics.Methods18 subjects (8 women, 10 men) with osteoarthritis of the medial tibiofemoral joint walked over ground with and without an elastic knee sleeve. Kinematics and forces were recorded and joint moments were calculated using an inverse dynamics approach. Conditions with sleeve and without sleeve were compared with paired t-Tests.ResultsWith the sleeve, knee adduction angle at ground contact was reduced by 1.9±2.1° (P = 0.006). Peak knee adduction was reduced by 1.5±1.6° (P = 0.004). The first peak knee adduction moment and positive knee adduction impulse were decreased by 10.1% (0.74±0.9 Nm•kg-1; P = 0.002) and 12.9% (0.28±0.3 Nm•s•kg-1; P < 0.004), respectively.ConclusionOur study provides evidence that wearing an elastic knee sleeve during walking can reduce knee adduction angles, moments and impulse in subjects with knee osteoarthritis. As a higher knee adduction moment has previously been identified as a risk factor for disease progression in patients with medial knee osteoarthritis, we speculate that wearing a knee sleeve may be beneficial for this specific subgroup.