Dynamic Postural Stability Is Decreased During the Single-Leg Drop Landing Task in Male Collegiate Soccer Players With Chronic Ankle Instability

BACKGROUND: Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is commonly encountered in soccer players. The feelings of instability and anxiety caused by CAI can lead to poor performance, such as difficulty in sharp change of direction during soccer play. The single-leg drop landing (SLDL) task is often used to evaluate dynamic postural stability. PURPOSE/HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of this study was to clarify whether dynamic stability measured during SLDL is altered in male collegiate soccer players with CAI. The hypothesis was that athletes with CAI would show poor dynamic postural stability. STUDY DESIGN: Controlled laboratory study. METHODS: A total of 103 male collegiate soccer players were recruited, and their limbs were classified based on the new international CAI criteria. All players performed three 5-second SLDL trials on a force plate. The main outcome measures included time to stabilization of the horizontal ground-reaction force (GRF); peak GRF in the vertical, horizontal, and sagittal directions; and trajectory length of the center of pressure during SLDL. RESULTS: Data from 59 CAI limbs and 147 non-CAI limbs were collected in this study. Time to stabilization of horizontal GRF was significantly longer in the CAI limbs (P < .001), and the peak GRFs in all directions were significantly lower in the CAI limbs (vertical, P < .001; horizontal, P < .001; sagittal, P = .001). Additionally, the trajectory length of the center of pressure was significantly greater in the CAI limbs (P = .004). CONCLUSION: Soccer players with CAI had decreased dynamic postural stability that led them to land softly when performing the SLDL task. Measurement of dynamic postural stability may be useful in the evaluation of CAI. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Our findings may be useful for strategies of daily training or as an evaluation tool.