Pilot Data: Are Vertical and Lateral Hop Tests Appropriate for Patients Post-Ankle Fracture?

Ankle fractures effect 5 out of 10,000 individuals (van Staa, 2001). A recent study shows rapid functional gains over the first 6 months after an ankle fracture, but there are little or no gains 18-24 months into the recovery cycle (Beckenkamp, 2014). Similarly, other studies have shown that ankle fracture patients are categorized as having good recovery outcomes on popular measures such as the modified Olerud Molander scale (Egol, 2006), yet are unable to return to previous level of sport (Hong, 2013), indicating there may be persisting higher level performance deficits. This brings up the issue of whether there are performance based tests that would be appropriate for ankle fracture patients to determine return to sport or higher level activity without risk of injury. The purpose of this project is to determine the biomechanical load and side to side comparisons of vertical and lateral hopping tests that may be used in ankle fracture patients