Short-Term Effects of Balance Training with Stroboscopic Vision for Patients with Chronic Ankle Instability: A Single-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Chronic Ankle Instability (CAI) is one of the most common musculoskeletal dysfunctions. Stroboscopic vision (SV) training has been deemed to enhance somatosensorial pathways in this population group; nevertheless, until recently no studies have addressed the additional effects of this treatment option to the traditional therapeutic approach. Methods: To evaluate the effectiveness of a partial visual deprivation training protocol in patients with CAI, a randomized controlled trial was carried out. Patients with CAI (n = 73) were randomized into either a balance training, SV training, or a control (no training) group. For participants assigned into training groups, they received 18 training sessions over 6 weeks. The primary outcome was dynamic balance as measured by the Star Excursion Balance Test assessed at baseline and after 6 weeks of intervention. Secondary outcome measures included ankle dorsiflexion range of motion, self-reported instability feeling, and ankle functional status. Results: Better scores in stroboscopic training and balance training groups in all outcome measures were observed in comparison with the control group with moderate to large effect sizes. Stroboscopic training was more effective than neuromuscular training in self-reported instability feeling (cohen’s d = 0.71; p = 0.042) and anterior reach distance of the star excursion balance test (cohen’s d = 1.23; p = 0.001). Conclusions: Preliminary findings from the effects of SV Stroboscopic training in patients with CAI, suggest that SV may be beneficial in CAI rehabilitation.

Comparative Effects of Neuromuscular- and Strength-Training Protocols on Pathomechanical, Sensory-Perceptual, and Motor-Behavioral Impairments in Patients with Chronic Ankle Instability: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Both neuromuscular training and strength training groups improved all variables, with no differences between groups on dynamic balance, functional status, subjective feeling of instability, and ankle DFROM. In contrast with previous research [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ], the control group improved dynamic balance and CAIT despite not receiving treatment.…”

“…Self-reported physical function is reduced in subjects with CAI and could be measured with FAAM-ADL and FAAM-SPORT to determine the influence of CAI in daily living activities as well as sport-related activities [ 20 ]. Kim et al [ 28 ] found improvements in self-reported function in balance training and hop-stabilization tasks, and Ardakani et al [ 29 ] obtained similar results in an intervention consisting of hop-stabilization training in both FAAM-ADL and FAAM-SPORT subscales. These improvements agree with the obtained results where the NG group showed greater within-group change scores than SG and CG.…”

Sinusoidal Optic Flow Perturbations Reduce Transient but Not Continuous Postural Stability: A Virtual Reality-Based Study

“…Against this background, optic flow perturbations might be a helpful tool that should be considered when developing rehabilitation programs, as they could help patients to decrease reliance on visual information during balance control and upregulate reliance on somatosensory information for motor programming ( Lee et al, 2021 ; Han et al, 2022 ). The implementation of this novel approach may enhance the activity of the somatosensory pathways to the postural system due to limited visual information input ( Kim et al, 2021 ). Future research is needed to investigate the effects of training programs that include optic flow perturbations on postural control in individuals with altered somatosensory input due to musculoskeletal injury or aging.…”

Effectiveness of balance training in patients with chronic ankle instability: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…In addition, a systematic review published in 2021 27 only scanned three databases and analysed the shortterm effects of balance training. However, several relative randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published after the final retrieval deadline of April 2021, [28][29][30][31] It is essential to investigate the duration of treatment effects of balance training in patients with CAI for clinicians in the decision-making process. 32 Studies have defined 6 months post-intervention as a long-term effect assessment point for CAI.…”

“…In addition, a systematic review published in 202127 only scanned three databases and analysed the short-term effects of balance training. However, several relative randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published after the final retrieval deadline of April 2021,28–31 and control interventions, such as whole-body vibration training and ROM training, have not been compared with balance training.…”