Lateral Ankle Sprain Study Wins Best International Award

This year’s Best International Paper and winner of the T. David Sisk Awards for Research Excellence is a study from Hokkaido, Japan titled: Intrinsic Risk Factors of Lateral Ankle Sprain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

The award was announced at the 2017 annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine (AOSSM) on July 20 in Toronto, Canada.

Lead investigator Takumi Kobayashi, Ph.D., P.T. received his award at a ceremony at the AOSSM annual meeting. Fellow co-authors, Masahiro Shida, M.S.C., P.T. and Masashi Tanaka, M.S.C., P.T. remained in Japan. All three researchers are from the Hokkaido Chitose Institute of Rehabilitation Technology, Hokkaido, Japan.

The T. David Sisk Research Awards were established in 2010 to honor the best papers submitted to Sports Health in clinical, laboratory, and international research. The winners receive a $2,500 cash prize and a plaque.

Dr. Sisk was a strong proponent of Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, and served as the Chairman of the AOSSM Medical Publishing Board of Trustees at the time when the creation of the new journal was proposed. He enthusiastically fostered the journal throughout its initial development and set the journal’s course for its current success. Dr. Sisk was a former AOSSM President, Hall of Fame inductee, and active member in the sports medicine community throughout his esteemed career. He died of cancer in July of 2009 but his legacy of teaching and collaboration continues to live on.

What Are the Intrinsic Risk Factors of Lateral Ankle Sprains?

This award winning paper from Japan sought to understand the risk factors for one of the most common injuries in recreational activities and competitive sports. This is not a new question. Many studies have attempted to tease out intrinsic factors that can predict lateral ankle sprains (LAS). But, as the researchers noted in their paper, no consensus has emerged regarding such predictive intrinsic factors.

Dr. Kobayashi and his team used several data sources to set up the study including MEDLINE, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, SPORTDiscus, and Cochrane Register of Clinical Trials. The computerized literature search pulled up 1,133 studies which discussed LAS intrinsic risk factors—notably, written in English.

Finally, the researchers used a modified quality index to assess the quality of the design of the papers and then used a standardized mean difference pool study outcomes.

Here is what the Kobayashi team found.

Body mass index, slow eccentric inversion strength, fast concentric plantar flexion strength, passive inversion joint position sense, and peroneus brevis reaction time were correlated with LAS and, therefore, provide physicians and trainers with, certainly, the raw material for risk factors which could predict LAS.