Study of the Effect and Persistence of Neuromuscular Exercises on Activity Timing of Lower Extremity Distal and Proximal Muscles in Athletes with Functional Ankle Instability

The effect and persistence of neuromuscular activities on the timing of lower extremity proximal muscles are questionable. So the purpose of this study was to investigate the persistence effect of neuromuscular exercise on activity timing of lower extremity distal and proximal muscles in athletes with functional ankle instability.

26 athletes with functional ankle instability were randomly divided into two groups of neuromuscular exercises and control. Subjects were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. In the pretest phase, the activity timing of muscles was evaluated with surface electromyography. The next step was to exercise group performing their own exercises for 6 weeks. Exercises were performed 3 sessions per week and each exercise session lasted 15 to 20 minutes. Then all pre-test measurements were performed in the post-test and persistence test. Repeated analysis using ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc tests were used for statistical analysis. The significance level was considered less than 0.05.

Results of Mixed-ANOVA showed the interactive effect of time(pretest-posttest-persistence) on the group(neuromuscular-control) significantly changes the activity timing of distal muscles in the neuromuscular group(P≤0/05). But there was no difference in the activity timing of proximal muscles in either of two groups in post-test and persistence compared to pre-test(P≥0/05).

Although neuromuscular exercises improves the activity timing of distal muscles and persistence, this improvement does not apply to proximal muscles that play an important role in the lower extremity chain. Therefore, it is suggested that in the rehabilitation of functional ankle instability, use exercises that, in addition to affecting the distal segments, also focus on the proximal muscles to reduce the risk of re-injury.