Context: Ankle fractures (AFs) are the most common fractures of the lower limbs found in emergency services. Approximately 53% of these fractures are unstable and treated surgically. Objective: To conduct a systematic review evaluating functional outcomes and quality of life of patients with AFs surgically treated. Evidence Acquisition: A systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Five electronic databases were searched, without any limit on publication dates. Only patients with an unstable AF that was surgically treated were included; functional outcomes and the quality of life were controlled by the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey instrument. Evidence Synthesis: Five studies were included in the analysis, including 267 patients. The values of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale ranged between a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 7 points. Patients with surgically treated AF reported less functionality and physical capacity compared with the nonfractured population. Some patients experienced vitality, emotional, and mental health limitations for a long period. Most surgically treated patients reported no pain and a good health and social status. Conclusion: Limitations in functionality and physical capacity represent the main threats to health-related quality of life in patients with surgically treated AFs.

Objective: Compare the results between adult men and women treated with open reduction and internal fixation after unstable ankle fractures. Methods: Prospective study including 86 patients (n=57, men; n=29, women) with unstable ankle fractures surgically treated. A sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire with 48 items was applied. The morphology of ankle fractures was analyzed according to the AO Foundation and Orthopaedic Trauma Association (AO/OTA) classification system. Results: Among the 86 patients, young men predominated all variables researched. The most common injury was motorcycle crashes, followed by soccer accidents (p≤0.001) caused by high-energy trauma (p≤0.05). Other factors are fractures on the right side (p≤0.05), more fractures AO/OTA 44-B2 and C1 (p≤0.05), and malleolus lateral and bimalleolar fractures (p≤0.01). Conclusion: The results indicate that adult men are more likely to suffer ankle fractures requiring surgical treatment than adult women. We suggest that the anatomical reduction of displaced malleolar fractures, especially restoring the fibula length and maintaining reduction until the fracture is healed, appears to be highly favorable for the surgical treatment of unstable ankle fractures. Level of Evidence II; Prognostic Studies; Prospective Study.

The aim of this study was to investigate adaptations acute heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption (VO2) in an experimental protocol of step training with different combinations of platform height (15.2, 20.3 and 25.4 cm) and musical rhythms (125, 135 and 145 bpm). Thirty-five women were randomly selected, (mean ± DP) aged 21.6 ± 1.8 years, body weight of 57.8 ± 8.2 kg, height of 162.6 ± 6.8 cm, body mass index of 21.8 ± 2.5 kg m-2 and fat percentage (% Fat) of 24.8 ± 4.4%, with at least six months experience in step training sessions, and a frequency of at least two days a week. Techniques of descriptive and inferential statistics were employed. A significant difference was detected for the HR and VO2 in relation to the increase in step platform height and in musical rhythm for all the combinations, except for three situations. From the obtained results, we can infer that the cardiovascular and metabolic responses increase or decrease according to the musical rhythm and/or platform height.

The ankle plays an important role in daily life under the functional point of view. It is essential to perform basic movements such as walking, running, etc. The ankle joint complex is a part of the body most frequently injured of the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic fractures in this joint may be classified as low trauma and high energy, the latter trauma, usually found in traffic accidents and falls from great heights are the most disabling. In the general context often this type of fracture compromises neighboring joints due to misalignment of the loading axis of the involved segment, emerging pain and progressive functional disability. In this context, this study aimed to review the literature of studies that were willing to analyze the biomechanical causes of the functional outcome of fractures of the complex orthopedic foot/ankle trauma generated by high and low energy. For this, a search was made in electronic databases indexing scientific articles, using the keyword search previously created. For better understanding we divided the literature review on topics: classification of ankle fractures, surgical treatment, no surgical indications and contraindications in cases of surgery, types of surgery with open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF), external and hybrid; wounds and complications consequences: amputation, obesity, arthritis and osteoarthritis, early motion, range of motion, gait pathology. From this review study, it is necessary that other publications in the field of physical therapy related biomechanical results of ankle fractures are carried out, since most studies were found in articles reporting on the medical surgeries.