Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Mar 18, 2015; 6(2): 161-171
Published online Mar 18, 2015. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v6.i2.161
Management and prevention of acute and chronic lateral ankle instability in athletic patient populations
Brendan J McCriskin, Kenneth L Cameron, Justin D Orr, Brian R Waterman
Brendan J McCriskin, Kenneth L Cameron, Justin D Orr, Brian R Waterman, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, TX 79920, United States
Kenneth L Cameron, the John A. Feagin Jr Sports Medicine Fellowship, Keller Army Hospital, US Military Academy, West Point, NY 10996, United States
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest: I declare that I have no conflicts of interest in the authorship or publication of this contribution.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Brian R Waterman, MD, MC, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, 5005 North Piedras St, El Paso, TX 79920, United States. brian.r.waterman@gmail.com
Telephone: +1-915-7421833 Fax: +1-915-7421931
Received: December 29, 2013
Peer-review started: December 31, 2013
First decision: January 20, 2014
Revised: November 16, 2014
Accepted: December 29, 2014
Article in press: December 31, 2014
Published online: March 18, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Competitive athletes and high-demand military servicemembers are at significant risk for lateral ankle instability during at-risk activity, particularly in the presence of certain modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. In conjunction with semirigid ankle bracing, functional rehabilitation protocols emphasizing neuromuscular coordination, peroneal strengthening, and proprioceptive training are effective for the majority of patients with acute ankle sprain. However, with chronic lateral ankle instability unresponsive to conservative measures, anatomic ligamentous repair or reconstruction reliably restores active patients to full athletic function. Prophylactic bracing and targeted physical therapy may also be considered in selected, high-risk cohorts.