Effect of time of day on ankle sprain injury rehabilitation and re-injury rate

An ankle sprain is the most common injuries which due to damage to the proprioceptive receptors and decrease stability, the risk of re- injury high. Because if diurnal rhythms on athletic performances the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of time of day on ankle sprain rehabilitation and re-injury rate. Sixteen non-professional athletes with history of unilateral ankle sprain which reported no history of neurological or vestibular impairments participated in this study (age: 24.2±2.7 years, weight: 71.6±3.1 kg, height: 177.2±3.4 cm; Mean±SD) and participated in 12 sessions physiotherapy in two randomized morning (8-10) and evening (18-20) groups. After ensuring walk without pain, at the same time, Star Excursion Balance training which reported as more effective program in improving functional stability of the sprained ankle was used for 4 weeks as rehabilitation programe. The Single Leg Balance test was used to measure effect of rehabilitation program, and re-injury rate after one year were recorded. Paired sample t-test used for comparison of data mean. Results showed that after rehabilitation program, balance ability for in evening group was significantly better than morning group (t=2.65, P=0.03). After one year, 2 and 1 re-injuries were found in morning and evening group respectively (P≥0/05). A similar study, did not found in this field but positive effect of time of day on the acquisition of static equilibrium in this study can be a basis for more extensive studies with greater number of samples, especially with more advanced clinical diagnostic devices, perhaps with the appropriate time of rehabilitation, recovery accelerated and re injury reduced.