Correlation between self-reported instability, balance, and health status in individuals with chronic functional ankle instability

Functional ankle instability (FAI), characterized by feeling of “giving way” and recurrent episodes of ankle sprain, is the most prevalent problem following ankle sprain which causes balance deficits and limitations in activity and sport and can affect health status. Little is known about correlation between self-reported instability-as chief complaint of individuals- with balance and health status in individuals with FAI.
23 subjects with unilateral FAI and 23 healthy people were participated in this study. Ankle Instability Index and SF-36 questionnaire were completed by participants; otherwise balance error scoring system (BESS) was used to measure static balance. To compare balance and health status between groups, independent sample and Mann-Whitney tests were used and Spearman correlation coefficient was used to determine correlation between main variables.
BESS scores in FAI group was significantly more than the control group (P 0.05). There was no significant correlation, however, between balance tests scores with the Instability Index.
High correlation of ankle instability with physical part of SF-36 revealed that self-reported instability affect physical health but there is not any correlation between self-reported instability with balance tests.