College of Health

Chronic ankle instability is a common pathological consequence of ankle sprains. However, screening tools which assess self-reported dysfunction offer little insight into clinical factors which may be useful to improve deficits. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that contribute most to self-reported dysfunction. 93 individuals completed the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT), active range of motion, dynamic postural stability assessments, and an arthrometer inversion stress test to assess lateral ankle laxity and stiffness. Backwards selection linear-regression was used to identify the most parsimonious multifactorial model of the predictor variables' ability to predict questionnaire score. Ankle sprain history, dorsiflexion in knee flexion, medial-lateral dynamic postural stability, and inversion laxity talar tilt had the highest relationships with the CAIT. When combined in the backwards-regression model index, these predictors explained approximately 57% of the variability (=0.76, =0.57, =27.49, <0.001) of the CAIT. Previous history, laxity, range of motion restrictions and balance together contributed to account for almost 60% of the variability in the CAIT. Clinical measures may have prognostic value assessing the severity of chronic ankle instability and allow clinicians to focus on specific deficiencies during rehabilitation programs.