Trunk and hip muscle recruitment patterns during the prone leg extension following a lateral ankle sprain: A prospective case study pre and post injury

BACKGROUND AND CASE PRESENTATION: The prone leg extension (PLE) is commonly used to identify dysfunction of muscle recruitment patterns. The prone leg extension is theorized to identify proximal muscle disturbances which are a result of distal injury or dysfunction (i.e. an ankle sprain). This case study compares the trunk and hip muscle (bilateral lower erector spine, ipsilateral hamstring and ipsilateral gluteus maximus) timing during a PLE of a 27 year old female runner during a healthy state (pre ankle sprain) and 2 and 8 weeks post ankle sprain. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The gluteus maximus muscle onsets at 8 weeks post injury appeared to occur earlier compared with 2 weeks post injury. The Right Erector Spinae at 8 weeks post injury was also active earlier compared with the participant's non-injured state. A large degree of variability can be noted within trials on the same day for all muscle groups. CONCLUSION: An acute ankle injury did not result in a delay in gluteus maximus muscle activation. The utility of the prone leg extension as a clinical and functional test is questionable due to the normal variability seen during the test and our current inability to determine what is normal and what is dysfunctional.