Strengths In The Weight Bearing Ankles Of Young Women Essay, Research Paper

Ottaviani, Robert A. (2001) Inversion and Eversion Strengths in the Weight bearing Ankles of Young Women. American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Ankle injuries rank as the most common injury in athletics today, and compared to men, women basketball players are 25 % to 60% more susceptible to spraining their ankles. The article began by hypothesizing that this rate is so high in women, because ankle-strength is due to an inversion-eversion muscle strength ratio that is associated with ankle injuries. And past experiments have proven that women, on average, have less muscle strength at the ankle than men. It was stated that this experiment was conducted for three reasons; “ Nonweight bearing studies tend to underestimate inversion and eversion strengths, no studies of inversion or eversion strengths have been reported in women’s ankles bearing full body weight, and there are no sex comparisons of inversion and eversion strength in the ankle.” Also, they wanted to see if there was a relation between ankle strength and shoe type. The experimenters tested the strength in the degree of the inward and outward motion of the ankle, and if shoe height would affect ankle strength development. They took twenty young women that were relatively the same height and weight and normally wore a size 8 shoe. The women were then scaled from 0 to10, based on self-reported habitual physical activity. Zero denoted inactivity and ten denoted sports at the Division I collegiate level. The data shows that the women’s active range was measured with a goniometer. Their ankle strength in dorsiflexion-plantarflexion and inversion-eversion was tested by using an isokenetic dyanometer, and other strength tests. The results showed that both shoe height and ankle plantar flexion did not affect eversion movement development. Which meant that eversion strength was not affected by shoe type. This data was then compared to another experiment that used the same methods but was tested on males and found that there are no significant sex differences, and found that in young healthy adults that ankle strength is proportional to body size.

When I went over all the information in the article, I found that the experiment was conducted very well, and that the results found are dependable. For example, the control group was constant, and the variables were defined to what the experimenters were looking for, such as the degree of dorsiflexion in the ankle. Also, the experimenters found women that have not had an ankle injury for prior to six months before the experiment. Therefore, they can cut down on any factors that can alter the results of their testing. I found only one problem with the experiment. The volunteers had to report their own habits of physical activity. I believe this is a problem, because the experiment depends on if the volunteers tell the truth.

This article is relevant to the field of athletic training because it has to do with the effects of flexion and muscle strength to perform an activity. An athletic trainer must know what his/her athletes are susceptible to when the athletes are playing a sport. If a certain athlete has sprained his/ her ankle before then the athletic trainer must keep a watchful eye because that athlete would be more prone to injuring his self/ herself again. Also, if a basketball player is wear the wrong kind of shoes it causes stress on the lateral ligament of the ankle that results in inversion of the foot and a sprained ankle. So the athletic trainer must be aware of what is the cause and result of ankle injuries.

I chose this article because I used to play basketball in high school and sprained my ankle really bad, because I had weak ankles. I ended up with a second-degree sprain that took forever to recover from. And when I did, my balance was off and I was uncoordinated. So I thought this article would help me understand how that happened to me, and what could have cause it.