Effects of stair riser height on ankle proprioception in individuals with and without chronic ankle stability

Xueying Wang ^1,2 Zheng Wang ³ Roger Adams ^4,5 Yang Gao ⁶ Jie Lyu ^5* Jia Han ^5*

• ¹ Physical Education and Health, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China
• ² School of Exercise and Health, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
• ³ Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, shanghai, China
• ⁴ Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
• ⁵ College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, shanghai, China
• ⁶ Department of Sport and Physical Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, SAR China

Background: Ankle sprains during stair descent are prevalent, especially in those with chronic ankle instability (CAI), which may be attributed to diminished ankle proprioception associated with CAI.: This study aims aimed to determine whether individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI) have lower ankle proprioceptive performance during stair descent and to determine to what extent stair riser height may affect ankle proprioception. Methods: 40 university students, including 21 CAI (9 males and 12 males, mean age 22.38 years, mean height 169.97 cm and mean weight 64.88kg) and 19 health control health controls healthy controls (11 males and 8 males, mean age 23.05 years, mean height 169.42 cm and mean weight 65.18kg) volunteered. The Ankle Inversion Discrimination Apparatus for Stair Descent (AIDASD) was used to measure ankle inversion proprioception across 3 different riser heights: 15cm, 17.5cm, and 20cm during stair descent.Results: ANOVA showed that individuals with CAI performed significantly worse than health group across all tested riser heights (F = 44.066, p  0.001), with a significant main effect of riser height (F = 13.288, p  0.001). Significant differences in proprioceptive acuity were found between 15cm and higher risers (p  0.001), but not between 17.5cm and 20cm (p = 0.675), alongside a significant linear downward trend with increasing riser height (F = 15.476, p  0.001). No significant interaction was observed between the group and riser height (F = 0.745, p = 0.478).The presence of ankle instability and increased riser height significantly negatively affected ankle inversion proprioceptive performance during stair descent, which may increase the risk of ankle sprain.Application: Potential applications of this research include the assessment of ankle proprioception during stair descent attributable to effective ankle instability rehabilitation and riser height selection for safe stair design.