Functional Tests for Ankle Instability Assessment in Athletes: A Review of Literature

 Ankle joint injuries and lateral sprains are the most common sports injuries. Understanding this injury through functional tests can reduce the risk of recurrence, and athlete's medical expenses reduce keeping athletes away from sports fields and smooth out the way of rehabilitation and return to exercise. This study aimed to collect functional tests that identify the ankle instability and the overall summary of these tests.

In this study, comprehensive search to identify articles and studies conducted on functional tests for ankle instability PEDRO, PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Science Direct, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials, Google Scholar, and Scopus based in the period 1994 to 2020 took place. In addition, a manual search and comprehensive review of article sources were conducted.

Out of 49 different tests that studied the functional tests for ankle instability, 23 articles were selected, and their results were reported. 25 performance-related tests, 7 postural control system tests, 10 self-report tests, and 7 scoring system tests were identified for ankle function evaluation.

An analysis of studies showed that 4 different testing tools had been used in the literature to evaluate functional ankle instability in athletes. The present study identifies and explains how these tests are applied. Therefore, it performs an elaborated analysis of the 4 existing tests to see which one offers a more accurate analysis of functional ankle instability in athletes.