1Assistant Professor, Faculty of Physiotherapy, SGT University, Gurugram, Haryana, India
2Professor Department of Physiotherapy, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India
Online published on 14 October, 2021.
Ankle sprain are the most common sports injuries. These injuries have high rate of recurrence. Proprioceptive deficit leading to reduce balance ability has immersed as one of the important cause of recurrence.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an ankle injury prevention protocol based on player's education and balance training.
A sample of 40 football player's (M=29, F=11) with history of previous ankle sprain in the last 12 months was divided in two equal groups. Both groups were given education about prevention and management of ankle sprain and were provided need based physiotherapy treatment of injuries sustained during training and practice. In addition to usual training the players of Experimental group received progressive balance training program for one month (4 sessions per week) which was not provided to the players of control group. Both groups were screened periodically at the interval of one month for 6 months to detect the occurrence of ankle sprain. Knowledge score, stork stand test of static balance, modified brass test for dynamic balance and frequency of ankle injury were the outcome measures. One way ANOVA with post hoc t test were the tool of data analysis.
In comparison to last year the frequency of ankle sprains recoded considerably in both groups. The number of ankle sprain during intervention and 6 month follow up was 5 and 1 respectively for the intervention group) (last year frequency). The corresponding figure was 5 and 10 for control group (last year frequency). Balance training protocol resulted in significantly higher gain in static and dynamic balance (p< 0.05) scores. The pre-intervention stork stands test score right, left and score of modified bass test in experimental group were 10.08 ± 14.38, 10.34 ±16.97 and 63.95 ± 59.41 respectively which increased to 19.61 ± 14.11, 19.09 ± 14.03 and 76.5 ± 31.73 after balance training. In control group also significant increase balance score was observed but the extent of improvement was less.
Ankle injury Prevention protocol consisting of regular physiotherapy support, balance training and player education program was effective in reducing the occurrence of ankle sprain in foot ball players.
Ankle sprain, Player's education, Balance training, Football, Proprioception, Prevention
