Impact of National Academy of Sports Medicine Corrective Exercises on Gait and Postural Control in Individuals With Chronic Ankle Instability: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
OrthoEvidence Journal (OE Journal) - ACE Report
Epub Ahead of Print
J Sport Rehabil. 2026 01-Jan;():. 10.1123/jsr.2024-0430What this means for my practice?
NASM corrective exercises improve postural control but have limited impact on gait mechanics in individuals with CAI. Clinically, this suggests that adding gait-specific retraining may be necessary to optimize rehabilitation outcomes. Key limitations are the lack of gait speed control, lack of blinding, and the use of single-step gait assessment, which may limit interpretation of gait findings.
Study Summary
Seventy patients with chronic ankle instability (CAI) were randomized to receive an 8-week National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) corrective exercise program or no intervention. The primary outcome of interest was gait kinetics including contact time, foot progression angle, and plantar force distribution. Other outcomes included postural control measures such as centre of pressure (COP) area and velocity (eyes open and closed). Outcomes were assessed at baseline and after 8 weeks. Overall, the results of the study revealed significant improvements in postural control and gait contact time in the intervention group compared to control, with no significant changes in most other gait parameters. These findings suggest that NASM corrective exercises improve balance-related outcomes but have limited influence on gait mechanics in individuals with CAI.
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