The balance effect of rearfoot wedges with different height for collegiate students with chronic ankle instability: pilot study

Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is caused by recurrent lateral ankle sprain. Foot orthotic is one option of treatment. The purpose of this study was to determinate the balance effect of rearfoot wedges with different height in collegiate students with chronic ankle instability. Eight collegiate students with CAI subjects were voluntarily particapated in this study. The area of center of pressure was used as balance variable of outcome measurement. Seven height of rearfoot wedge was used to test, included 0°, 2°, 4°, 6° of medial wedge and 2°, 4°, 6° of lateral wedge. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the difference among sevent height of wedge intervention in CAI group. The results were showed no significantly difference among seven height of wedge intervention. However, we found a trend of balance improvement with the wedge intervention, especially in 4 degrees of medial wedge intervention.