UsingDynamic Postural Control to Identify Risk for Ankle Injury in Adolescent Football Players

Acute and recurrent ankle injuries are the most prevalent injury among high school athletes. Additionally, there is substantial evidence to link ankle sprains to long-term ankle joint degeneration. There is increasing evidence these injuries will contribute to future joint degeneration and patient disability. It is important to indentify adolescent athletes that may be at the most risk for incurring an acute ankle sprain, as this will lead to a more cost-effective and efficient method for managing ankle injury. Preliminary data from our laboratory has demonstrated the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) to have strong capabilities in predicting acute ankle injuries in high school athletes. The SEBT is cost effective and clinically easy screening tool to administer. Development of an effective screening tool that can be used universally by medical professionals, without increasing the financial burden on the healthcare system, is critical to the prevention of ankle injury in the adolescent athlete, the most abundant, and underserved population participating in sports today. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop the SEBT as a screening tool as part of a model for predicting acute ankle injury risk. The overall goal in this proposed project, is to determine the ability of the SEBT and potential covariates to predict acute ankle sprains in high school athletes. The central hypothesis of this project is that this model will effectively predict high school athletes at risk for ankle sprain. This hypothesis has been developed through published findings and our own preliminary data. The rationale that inspired this proposed project is that an effective screening tool for ankle injury is needed as the first steps in developing a cost-effective policy for prophylactically intervening to prevent ankle injury in adolescents, thus preventing the potentially long-term disability associated with chronic effects of an acute injury. Therefore, the specific aim of this proposal is to determine the capability of the star excursion balance test (SEBT) to predict acute ankle injuries. We will measure the SEBT performance of adolescent football players prior to the beginning of the competition season in order to examine ankle injury risk. Prior to the first day of the 2013 football practice season, approximately 650 high school football players from 16 high schools in the Toledo, OH area will perform a dynamic balance test, the star excursion balance test (SEBT). On a weekly basis, the injury records and the number of exposures from each school will be entered into a database. At the end of the football season, pre-season SEBT scores and selected covariates will be used to create simple and a complex prediction models for risk of ankle injury. It is expected that this study will establish the SEBT as a part of an effective screening model for acute ankle injury in adolescent athletes. This is an important step towards our goal of preventing ankle injuries in individuals that can be identified at risk for ankle injury in this population.