No abstract

The use of a tilt platform to simulate a lateral ankle sprain and record muscle reaction time is a well-established procedure. However, a potential caveat is that repetitive ankle perturbation may cause a natural attenuation of the reflex latency and amplitude. This is an important area to investigate as many researchers examine the effect of an intervention on muscle reaction time. Muscle reaction time, peak and average amplitude of the peroneus longus and tibialis anterior in response to a simulated lateral ankle sprain (combined inversion and plantarflexion movement) were calculated in twenty-two physically active

Prevention of injuries is important for the health of an individual player, as well as for the overall performance of the team. Injured players do not play at their full physical capacity or may not be able to play at all. The majority of ankle injuries that occur in football result in complete inability to participate in training and/or competition. This chapter will discuss strategies for the prevention of ankle injuries in football. First, we will introduce a pragmatic approach towards injury prevention in general, after which we will discuss a number of general preventive measures to be employed in football. Thereafter, measures to prevent acute lateral ligament injury will be described in depth. These injuries are the most commonly encountered by football players and are the underlying cause of many of the other injuries described in this book. We will fi nish this chapter with general considerations regarding the implementation of prevention measures within a team sport as football.