Ankle Sprain Rehabilitation With the Wii Balance Board

Physical activity and in particular sport is beneficial to health. Nevertheless, some of these activities may create a risk of injury. Ankle sprain is the most common sport related injury. Sports that are causing the highest number of ankle sprains are: football (30%), handball-basketball-volleyball-rugby (24%), gymnastics sports (6%), skiing (6%), cycling (6%), athletics (4%) and contact sports (4%). A recent study in the Netherlands identified a total of 1.3 million sports injuries. 47% of these patients required medical care. The total costs (direct and indirect) were assessed 84.240.000 EUR per year.

Prospective studies demonstrated that athletes with a ankle sprain have a twofold risk of re-injury during the first year after the trauma, and in half of patients with an ankle sprain recurrence this could lead to instability or chronic pain of the ankle.

The Wii Balance Board ® is a tool that is increasingly used in the field of health. In some hospitals, therapists are beginning to use it for the rehabilitation of patients after surgery, fractures or strokes.

Patients are asked to complete their physical therapy session by practicing "sports" via video games such as skiing, bowling or hula hoop. Currently, there are no randomized controlled studies that publish on the effectiveness of this tool. Recently, a study investigated the efficacy of the Wii Balance Board ® to improve balance, strength, joint mobility and level of physical activity. After 10 weeks of training, people an increased strength and balance was found. However, these results still require statistical confirmation. Thus this objectives of this study are

• To assess the efficacy of exercise training with the Wii Balance Board ® Platform
• To evaluate the effectiveness of physical therapy (based on current guidelines)
• To compare these two types of care (conventional physiotherapy versus Wii) to a control group (non-treatment).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Ankle Sprain
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Physical Therapy; Other: Wii Balance Board

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 90
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Geneva, Switzerland
    • University Hospitals Geneva

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years to 60 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients with an ankle sprain (grad 1 or 2), between 18 and 65 years old,

Exclusion Criteria:

• The subjects will not be included in the study if they are under 18 years
• They have other neurological or orthopedic disorders
• If taking medications (other than analgesics +/- NSAIDs prescribed during a sprain) that may influence the measurements.
• The patients with recurrent sprain of the ankle which was less than 12 months or who require surgery were also excluded.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: No treatment
Active Comparator: Physical Therapy	Other: Physical Therapy; These patients have a standardized conventional therapy (i.e. 9 sessions of physical therapy over 6 weeks); Other Names: physiotherapy
Experimental: Wii Balance group	Other: Wii Balance Board; These patients get an instruction about how to install and use the Wii Balance Board ®. After the instruction they get the equipment for 6 weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in the balance performance(COP displacement in ML and AP direction)	Change in the range of COP displacement during a single leg stance of 30 sec Change in the velocity of COP displacement during a single leg stance of 30 sec	6 Weeks after the ankle sprain occured, after treatment (6 weeks) and in a 6 month follow up

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in several functional parameters	pain (VAS); delay in return to work; delay in return to sport; passive joint mobility of the ankle in flexion and extension; isometric strength of the inverters and evertors, plantar and dorsal flexors; functional ankle instability evaluated with FAAM questionnaire; gait parameters (kinematics and electromyographic activity of peroneus, gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior); performance during a forwrd jump "monopodal": distance and time to stabilize the ankle; incidence of recurrent sprains side: 12-month prospective follow-up	6 weeks after ankle sprain, after treatment (6 weeks) and 6 month follow up

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Geneva

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: March 1, 2010
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): April 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 5, 2011
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 7, 2011
• First Posted (Estimate): October 10, 2011

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 22, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 21, 2020
• Last Verified: December 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Balance; Gait; Ankle sprain
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Wounds and Injuries; Leg Injuries; Sprains and Strains; Ankle Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: 09_116