Effect of 8-week treadmill running with peroneal muscle functional electrical stimulation on laterally deviated centre of plantar pressure position and star excursion balance test performance
Introduction: Ankle sprain is a common injury that can have long-term sequelae resulting in
pain, swelling and a reduction of physical activity participation. Previous research has shown
a laterally deviated centre of pressure (COP) during running gait increases the risk of lateral
ankle sprain. As a method of altering COP, electrical stimulation has been considered.
Method: A group of 14 healthy males were randomly allocated to case control groups which
were single blinded. The intervention involved an 8-week training programme of functional
electrical stimulation to the peroneal muscles during treadmill running, with a sham control
group. Outcomes were COP position and star excursion balance test. Statistical analysis was
through SPSS using a combination of MANOVA, T-tests and Wilcoxon signed rank
Results: There was a significant difference in the results post intervention at max pressure for
intervention M = 0.7 (±0.7) and control M = -6.0 (±4.6) conditions; t(6) = -2.9, p < 0.05
Conclusion: It has been demonstrated that FES can alter COP during max pressure in running
gait after an 8-week training programme, although carry over effect appears limited and
further testing is required.
History
School
Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Sage under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC). Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/