Chronic Ankle Instability (CAI)
Summary
Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is a painful, frustrating condition that limits you. This condition can be caused by repeating of spraining an ankle where the ankle “gives out”. The ankle will give out on the lateral side of the ankle. Or the outer side of your ankle. Ankle injuries can be frustrating because every movement whether walking, trying to do an activity or by just simple standing. It stops you from doing things you want to do. Living in discomfort.

Cause
CAI is characterized by recurrent ankle sprains, pain, and a feeling of “giving way”. Clients often present with deficits in strength, motor control, and proprioception. These deficits can cause “brain smudging” where there is a lack of representation of the ankle in the brain’s body map, which can make a full recovery difficult to achieve. The ligaments most commonly affected by lateral ankle sprains, (LAS) and CAI are the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) and the calcaneofibular ligament (CFL). These ligaments are usually injured due to an imbalance between the medial and lateral compartments of the lower leg, and an instability in the foot musculature.
Effects
There are 26 bones in the foot, and 7 bones in the ankle. The foot was made to be stable and the ankle was made to be mobile, simply due to the fact that there are more bones to support the form and arches of the feet, while there are less in the ankle making it have more room to move. When there is a length-tension imbalance in the lower leg musculature, it often causes the foot to become unstable and working in a less than optimal position for proper function and pain free movement. When the arches don’t have the stability they need, the ankle becomes over worked and is usually pulled into inversion. This position puts the lateral ankle ligaments in an already lengthened position, and even the slightest roll or slip can cause damage to the ATFL and CFL.
Treatment
After the initial injury, or before an injury, it is extremely important to get the proper length-tension relationship in the lower leg to provide a good environment for the foot to stabilize as it should, so the ankle can have a strong support to move from. The arches of the foot are created in the hip and stabilized in the foot. Many studies have shown that poor motor control in the hip often causes imbalances and strength deficits in the foot and ankle. This is why at Structura, we look at and treat the body as a whole, using many different techniques and tools to get the best results possible. Some of those tools include a static postural and dynamic movement assessments, kinesiology tape, Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization, compression band therapy, as well as integrating postural alignment therapy to the manual therapy to provide the lasting change your body needs to stay healthy and injury free.
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