ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Biomechanics
Plantar Pressure in Athletes with Chronic Ankle Instability During Single-Leg Landings at Different Heights
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
- 2Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: During landing, athletes with Chronic Ankle Instability (CAI) often display abnormal ankle joint movements, and changes occur as the height increases. There is a lack of sufficient research on assessing foot pressure distribution during landing at different heights for athletes with CAI, which would help determine their injury risk. Methods: Twenty male athletes with CAI and twenty healthy controls were recruited in a 2 (group: CAI vs. healthy) × 2 (height: 30 cm-vs. 40 cm) mixed experimental design. A 2 × 2 mixed-design ANOVA was used to evaluate the foot pressure distribution characteristics during landing, measured using a 400×400 mm FreeMed baropodometric platform. Results: Interaction effects were detected in peak force: metatarsal head 3 (MH3) (p = 0.047); load percentage: toes 2–5 (T2–5) (p = 0.050), MH3 (p = 0.038), rearfoot lateral (RF_L) (p = 0.045); peak pressure: MH3 (p = 0.013). Group effects were detected in peak force: T2–5 (p < 0.001), metatarsal head 4 (MH4) (p < 0.001), midfoot lateral (MF_L) (p < 0.001), and RF_L (p < 0.001); load percentage: MH4 (p < 0.001), MF_L (p < 0.001); peak pressure: T2–T5 (p = 0.001), MH4 (p < 0.001), MF_L (p < 0.001), and RF_L (p = 0.033); vCOP (p = 0.018). Pairwise comparisons showed that the peak force, pressure, and load distribution of athletes with CAI in T2–5, MH3, MH4, MF_L, and RF_L were significantly higher than those of the healthy group (p < 0.05). Additionally, the load percentage in RF_L and vCOP of athletes with CAI at a height of 40 cm was significantly greater than that of the healthy group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Compared with healthy individuals, athletes with CAI have increased peak forces, pressures and load percentage at the T2–5, MH3, MH4, MF_L and RF_L during landing. The load percentage in RF_L and vCOP of athletes with CAI increases as the height increases, reflecting impaired postural control and a higher risk of re-injury. This highlights the need for trainers to design specific training programs based on the distribution characteristics of foot pressure during landing exercises.
Keywords: Ankle Injuries1, landing2, Plantar Pressure3, athletes4, Injury risk5
Received: 10 Sep 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Zhang, Li, Tian, Zhang and Sun. 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:
Qiang Zhang
Yuliang Sun
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.