Assessment instruments for chronic ankle instability: a systematic review of literature

Abstract

Ankle instability is defined as the tendency of the ankle to "give way" and suffer recurrent sprains after a lateral ankle sprain. Since the presence of instability is defined by means of subjects' complaints, it has a subjective characteristic it is important to identify the best assessment tool to determine its presence and/or severity. The purpose of this study was to systematically review assessment instruments designed for patients with chronic ankle instability. A computerized literature search was performed in the databases of PubMed, Embase, VHL, LILACS and SciELO to identify eligible instruments. Five studies were included and presented five different instruments - Foot and Ankle Disability Index (FADI), Ankle Joint Functional Assessment Tool (AJFAT), Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM), Ankle Joint Functional Assessment Tool (AII) e Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT). There were instruments that can detect functional limitations in subjects with functional ankle instability but that are not reliable to detect this condition. There is still a need for further clinimetric studies in order to validate these tools to obtain an effective and complete evaluation of the functional instability of the ankle.