Effect of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation Technique along with conventional exercises vs conventional exercises alone on Evertors muscle strength and dynamic Balance in patients with Functional Ankle Instability- An Experimental study

Abstract

Background- The most frequent musculoskeletal injury among athletes is lateral ankle sprains (LAS). Repeated ankle sprains lead to Functional Ankle Instability. Adjunct to Conventional exercises, PNF is also used to treat ligament injury. Aim of the study is To see the effect of 4 weeks Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation technique along with conventional exercises vs conventional exercise alone on Evertors muscle strength and Dynamic Balance in patients with Functional Ankle Instability.

Method- 44 individuals were divided into 2 groups. Group A (PNF along with Conventional exercises) and Group B (Conventional exercise). 4 weeks of protocol for thrice a week was given. Evertor muscle strength and dynamic balance were assessed using handheld dynamometer and Y-Balance test.

Result- The results showed that there is significant improvement within the groups in ankle evertor muscle strength with post 4 weeks p-value 0.0001 in Group A) and (post 4 weeks p-value 0.0001 in Group B) and in dynamic balance with (post 4 weeks p-value 0.0001 in Group A) and (post 4 weeks p value 0.0001 in Group B). There is significant difference between the groups (post 4 weeks p value 0.034) for ankle evertor muscle. But there is no significant difference between the groups ( post 4 weeks p-value 0.39 of anterior direction, post 4 weeks p-value 0.46 of postero-medial direction, post 4 weeks p-value 0.83 postero-lateral direction and post 4 weeks p-value 0.59 of composite score).

Conclusion- This study concludes that both PNF along with Conventional exercises (Group A) and Conventional Exercises alone (Group B) showed equal improvement after treatment. Both the technique proved to be equally effective in improving Ankle Evertor Muscle Strength and Dynamic balance. But PNF along with Conventional Exercises proves to be more effective on ankle evertor muscle strength post 4 weeks of exercises.