Differences in Ankle Dorsiflexion Deficit Performance between Male and Female Athletes with a History of Lateral Ankle Sprain: The Functional Pre-Participation Evaluation

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of deficit of ankle dorsiflexion in athletes who sustained a chronic lateral ankle sprain to the hopping performance. A comparative study was designed to compare the deficit and non-deficit condition of ankle dorsiflexion as a result of the weight bearing lunges test to distance hopping ability with single leg hop, which was normalized with leg length. There were no statistically significant differences in hopping performance, deficit vs non-deficit ankle dorsiflexion within-group comparisons in males (P = 0.932) or females (P = 0.999). Between group comparisons showed that ankle dorsiflexion deficit among female resulted lower hopping performance compared to male with / without ankle dorsiflexion deficit (P = 0.041 and P = 0.039). Surprisingly, hopping performance among male with ankle dorsiflexion deficit was further than female without ankle dorsiflexion deficit (P = 0.044). Meanwhile, hopping performance between male versus female without ankle dorsiflexion deficit were not significant (P = 0.054). The deficit of ankle dorsiflexion had no influence on hopping performance in athlete with a history of LAS, both male and female. Sex influenced hopping performance in athletes with ankle dorsiflexion deficits, with female athletes performing worse than male. During recovery, there might be differences in biomechanical adaptation between ankle dorsiflexion deficit conditions in female athletes compared to male.