Effects of Progressive Exercise Method Using Balance Board in Recreational Athletes With Functional Ankle Instability

Ankle sprains are common injuries in physically active individuals who are involved in sports such as soccer and volleyball. It is also frequently seen in sedentary individuals who are not physically active and in people who engage in recreational sports. The recurrence rate of lateral ankle sprains has been shown to be 80%. Functional Ankle Instability can be defined as recurrent ankle sprain and/or a "giving away sensation" happens after the initial sprain.

Conservative treatments are recommended to prevent recurrent injuries and to return to activity after stability, since the group that usually experiences a feeling of stability consists of young people. As a treatment, sensory and cognitive notifications and exercise applications that involve progression by increasingly challenging the individual, including reducing the support surface and changing the center of gravity, are recommended.

The Balance Board is a simple, cheap and applicable tool used to improve balance in treatment. In addition to improving balance, it reduces ankle sprains by up to 50%. The balance board can train the ankle unidirectionally or multiaxially. Unidirectional balance usually allows uniaxial movement based on a flat wood and a semicircle underneath. Multiaxial balance board systems are systems that allow multi-directional movement in all axes regardless of the position of the foot. It was reported that the performance gained as a result of the use of the multiaxial balance board was long-lasting and showed a rapid recovery in injuries. It has been concluded that balance training with a balance board restores the normal neuromuscular feedback loop by improving mechanoreceptor function, which contributes to the retraining of the sensorimotor system.

The use of game elements in treatment is defined as gamification and is a cheap and alternative method to perform various medical procedures. The increasing interest in gamification is due to lack of compliance with traditional treatment, increase in health care costs and inequitable access to health care. Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the leading causes of physical disability worldwide and gamification can be useful in various musculoskeletal rehabilitation such as tendonitis, degenerative joint disorders, neural compressions. Games are more attractive to patients and provide therapists with a wide range of alternatives for rehabilitation, making the treatment more dynamic and attractive.

The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of the exercise method on ankle stability, ankle functionality and enjoyment level of exercise in individuals with functional ankle instability.