Proposing Return to Sport Criteria after Chronic Lateral Ankle Instability Surgery

Chronic instability is a complication of the lateral ankle sprain that can be treated surgically. There is currently no objectively defined criterion to authorize the resumption of sports activities to patients who have undergone this kind of surgery. The objective of this work is to define objective criteria for returning to sport after ankle ligamentoplasty as well as the deadlines corresponding to the various sports activities. Thus, a literature review was carried out on postoperative follow-up and return to play. Nine studies were analysed according to the main pre- and post-operative criteria of ankle movement amplitude, muscular force evaluated by handheld or isokinetic dynamometry, proprioception and static upright posture and time to return to sport. If some of the results obtained in the analysed works show an improvement of these criteria in post-operative, the subjects having benefited from repair surgery of the lateral ankle instability would show a reduction of the amplitude in inversion, a defect of evertor muscles strength and postural disorders. The average time for this type of population to resume training is around the 3rd post-operative month and the resumption of competition around the 6th month. This work underscores the importance of evaluating the post-operative musculoskeletal qualities of reconstructive surgery for chronic lateral ankle instability since problems may persist when resuming the recommended sport.

Author(s): Jerome Sadaka*, Maude Traulle, Jean Mazeas, Remy Touzard and Matthieu Trousselier

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