Chronic ankle instability: is the surgeon's point of view too narrow?

Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is common and represents a socio-economic burden. Current literature is often divided into functional and mechanical CAI, with few studies evaluating both in a comprehensive manner. Surgeons, for example, mainly focus on ligament laxity. Modern CAI models include the interaction between multiple risk factors that may be functional, mechanical, personal or environmental. It is not clear, however, which factors should be included in this model and what is the relative importance of these risk factors in the development of CAI.

We carried out a systematic review to collect the CAI risk factors that should be included in these models, and developed a sprain simulator to attempt to quantify CAI in a holistic approach, taking all factors into account, by measuring maximum inversion velocity during a simulated trauma.