ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Biomechanics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1650015
This article is part of the Research TopicLateral Ankle Sprain, Chronic Ankle Instability and Ankle Osteoarthritis: Unraveling Mechanisms and Exploring Management ApproachesView all 10 articles
Impacts of Obstacle Crossing During Walking on Postural Control Strategies in Individuals with Functional Ankle Instability
Provisionally accepted
- Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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Background: Lateral ankle sprains often progress to functional ankle instability (FAI). Obstaclecrossing could pose greater challenges for individuals with FAI due to significant impairments in ankle kinesthesia and joint position sense. While existing studies have focused on level-ground gait characteristics in FAI, the postural control strategies underlying obstacle-crossing remain unclear, and the impact of obstacle height on these strategies has not been investigated.Purpose: This study is aimed at analyzing the postural control strategies of individuals with FAI during obstacle crossing at different heights.Methods: Twenty-three male participants (unilateral FAI group [n=11] and matched controls [n=12]) were recruited. FAI was identified using the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT score <24).Obstacle heights were set at 0%, 10%, and 20% of individuals' leg length (LL). Participants completed crossing tasks in randomized order. The individuals with FAI use their FAI-affected limb as the swing leg and controls use the matched limb.Results: Compared to the control group, the FAI group exhibited smaller hip flexion angles (P = 0.008), greater trunk lateral flexion (P = 0.033), and reduced medio-lateral margin of stability (ML_MoS) at landing (P = 0.046). As obstacle height increased, the FAI group showed significant differences in ML_MoS at landing (P < 0.001), with notably lower ML_MoS when the obstacle height was set at 20% LL compared to controls (P = 0.001).: Compared to healthy individuals, those with FAI adapt movement patterns through proximal compensation strategies, characterized by compensatory trunk lateral flexion. Increased obstacle height exacerbates instability during landing, particularly at higher heights, where individuals with FAI demonstrate significantly diminished lateral stability. These findings emphasize the critical influence of FAI on balance control and adaptive movement strategies during obstaclecrossing.
Keywords: fAI, Obstacle height, Biomechanics, Musculoskeletal injury, Margin of stability； Postural Control Strategies
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ma, Zhou, Shi, Wang, Mao, Kong and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lingyu Kong, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
Qiuxia Zhang, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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