Effects of Sensory Constraints on Sensorimotor Functions in People With Chronic Ankle Instability: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Xiaomei Hu, Ziwei Zeng, Cheuk-Yin Ho et al.
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In 30 seconds
This systematic review and meta-analysis examined how visual and somatosensory constraints affect postural control, muscle activity, and sensory reweighting in people with chronic ankle instability (CAI), compared with healthy controls. Across 43 articles, the CAI group had greater static and dynamic postural deficits under visual constraint (Hedges’s g = 0.53 and 1.05, respectively) and increased medial gastrocnemius activity during visually constrained unilateral stance (Hedges’s g = 1.02). Sensory reweighting was also reduced in specified unilateral and bilateral stance conditions. The authors note that responses vary with task and sensory conditions.
Key findings
- Under visual constraint, static and dynamic postural deficits were greater in CAI than in healthy controls (Hedges’s g = 0.53 and 1.05, respectively).
- Medial gastrocnemius activity increased during unilateral stance with visual constraint in CAI (Hedges’s g = 1.02).
- Sensory reweighting was decreased during unilateral stance with visual constraint (Hedges’s g = 0.26) and bilateral stance with visual and somatosensory constraints (Hedges’s g = 0.45).
Why it matters
Postural control depends on integrating visual, somatosensory, and vestibular information. These findings suggest that people with CAI may show altered balance and muscle activation when sensory information is constrained, while their ability to reweight sensory cues varies by task. Understanding these patterns can inform assessment of postural control without implying that one sensory strategy is consistently impaired across conditions.
What to keep in mind
The review synthesised descriptive epidemiological studies (Level 4); the abstract does not report study-level sample sizes or follow-up.