Comparison of effects of balance and strengthening training in terms of proprioception in people with chronic ankle instability

In literature, it has been seen that there is no sufficient evidence about which training method is more useful for improving balance and proprioception in people with chronic ankle instability (CAI). Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the differences of balance and strengthening trainings on ankle proprioception in people with CAI. This study was conducted with 29 (21 F, 8 M) physical active volunteers between the ages of 18-30 between December 2019 and May 2020. Participants whose demographic information and Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) scores, for assessment functional ankle instability, were received, were randomly divided into two treatment groups as strengthening training group (SG, n: 14) and balance trainng group (BG n: 15). Y Balance Test (YBT) and proprioception/vibration evaluations were conducted within the scope of dynamic balance and somatosensory evaluations respectively. The methodology adopted in this study for the evaluations includes joint position sense (JPS) measurements for the proprioception and 128 Hz. vibration fork for the vibration sense evaluations. Evaluations were applied at the beginning and at the end of the treatment. Participants of the BG were taken under hop to stabilization exercises and participants of the SG to TheraBand exercises. In both groups exercises were completed with unstable ankle. Participants attend all sessions which are held two days a week for six weeks and each session lasted approximately 35 minutes. At the end of the study, differences between pre and post-treatment results were analysed and the data from two groups were compared. Although there is no significant difference was found between two groups on the dynamic balance, SG showed a statistically more significant improvement on JPS (140°) and vibration sense (fifth toe) (p<0.05). In conclusion the study showed that the strengthening exercises applied with TheraBand have similar effects to balance exercises in developing dynamic balance, but are more effective on vibration sense and JPS.