The ankle is the second most commonly injured body part in sports and ankle sprains are the most common type of ankle injury. Female athletes have a high rate of ankle injury in some team sports. Rehabilitation must include neuromuscular training to improve postural and neuromuscular control and prevent recurrent sprains. The methods of optimal progression are not known in the neuromuscular training despite the frequent use of these kinds of exercises and devices

The ankle is the second most commonly injured body part in sports and ankle sprains are the most common type of ankle injury. Female athletes have a high rate of ankle injury in some team sports. Rehabilitation must include neuromuscular training to improve postural and neuromuscular control and prevent recurrent sprains. The methods of optimal progression are not known in the neuromuscular training despite the frequent use of these kinds of exercises and devices.PURPOSE: To compare ankle muscular activity performing 4 exercises in stable and unstable conditions.METHODS: 20 physically fit and healthy female subjects took part in a randomized, within-subject design assessment. The maximum isometric voluntary contraction (MIVC) was evaluated for the normalization. Peroneus longus (PL), tibialis anterior (TA) and soleus (S) muscular activities were recorded and the average root mean square values were calculated. Surface electromyography activity was analyzed during the central 16 seconds of 20 in 4 isometric unipodal postures: Sitting on a Thera-Band exercise ball with the foot over the floor (SF), standing up on the floor (UF), standing up on a Thera-Band Rocker Board (UR) and standing up on a soft Thera-Band Stability Trainer (US). All values, expressed as the mean of the 5 muscles %MIVC, were compared using a mixed-model MANOVA with a Bonferroni post-hoc analysis. Significance level was set at p≤0.05.RESULTS: Significant differences were found between conditions for PL (p<0.001), TA (p=0.011), S (p<0.001) and global muscles (p<0.001) (See Table 1).CONCLUSION: Specialists that use these devices for balance training, injury prevention or rehabilitation may use this information to develop an optimal exercise progression.