Conservative treatment for acute ankle sprain : a systematic review

Ortega-Avila, AB; Cervera-Garvi, P; Marchena-Rodriguez, A; Chicharro-Luna, E; Nester, CJ; Starbuck, C; Gijon-Nogueron, G

Abstract

The aim was to identify conservative treatments available for acute ankle sprain and to evaluate their effectiveness with respect to pain relief and short-term recovery of functional capacity. A systematic review of the relevant literature was conducted via a data search of the PROSPERO, PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, PyscINFO and SPORTDiscus databases, from inception until December 2019, focusing on randomised control trial studies. Two of the authors independently assessed the quality of each study located and extracted the relevant data. The quality of each paper was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool included in RevMan 5. In all, 20 studies met the inclusion criteria. In terms of absence of bias, only nine papers were classed as “high quality”. Studies (75%) were of low quality in terms of the blinding of participants and personnel and uncertainty in blinding of outcome assessment and all presented one or more other forms of bias. Despite the generally low quality of the studies considered, it can be concluded that conservative treatment for acute ankle sprain normally achieves pain relief and rapidly improved functionality. Research based on higher-quality study designs and procedures would enable more definitive conclusions to be drawn.

Citation

Ortega-Avila, A., Cervera-Garvi, P., Marchena-Rodriguez, A., Chicharro-Luna, E., Nester, C., Starbuck, C., & Gijon-Nogueron, G. (2020). Conservative treatment for acute ankle sprain : a systematic review. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(10), e3128. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103128

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 25, 2020
• Publication Date: Sep 27, 2020
• Deposit Date: Sep 29, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 29, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Clinical Medicine
• Publisher: MDPI
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 10
• Pages: e3128
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103128
• Keywords: ankle sprain, conservative treatment, systematic review, pain, function
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103128
• Related Public URLs: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/jcm
• Additional Information: Additional Information : ** From MDPI via Jisc Publications Router ** Licence for this article: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ **Journal IDs: eissn 2077-0383 **History: published 27-09-2020; accepted 25-09-2020