Exploring influences and risk of bias of studies on return to sport and work after lateral ankle sprain: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Maria Priscilla A , Vuurberg Gwendolyn , Kerkhoffs Gino MMJ 
Published: March 2024

BACKGROUND

Lateral ankle sprains are the most common traumatic musculoskeletal injuries of the lower extremity, with an incidence rate of 15%-20%. The high incidence and prevalence highlights the economic impact of this injury. Ankle sprains lead to a high socioeconomic burden due to the combination of the high injury incidence and high medical expenses. Up to 40% of patients who suffer from an ankle sprain develop chronic ankle instability. Chronic instability can lead to prolonged periods of pain, immobility and injury recurrence. Identification of factors that influence return to work (RTW) and return to sports (RTS) after a lateral ankle sprain (LAS) may help seriously reduce healthcare costs.

AIM

To explore which factors may potentially affect RTW and RTS after sustaining an LAS.

METHODS

EMBASE and PubMed were systematically searched for relevant studies published until June 2023. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) Injury including LAS or chronic ankle instability; (2) Described any form of treatment; (3) Assessment of RTW or RTS; (4) Studies published in English; and (5) Study designs including randomized controlled clinical trials, clinical trials or cohort studies. Exclusion criteria were: (1) Studies involving children (age < 16 year); or (2) Patients with concomitant ankle injury besides lateral ankle ligament damage. A quality assessment was performed for each of the included studies using established risk of bias tools. Additionally quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADEpro tool in cases where outcomes were included in the quantitative analysis. A best evidence synthesis was performed in cases of qualitative outcome analysis. For all studied outcomes suitable for quantitative analysis a forest plot was created to calculate the effect on RTW and RTS.

RESULTS

A total of 8904 patients were included in 21 studies, 10 randomized controlled trials, 7 retrospective cohort studies and 4 prospective cohort studies. Fifteen studies were eligible for meta-analysis. The overall RTS rate ranged were 80% and 83% in the all treatments pool and surgical treatments pool, respectively. The pooled mean days to RTS ranged from 23-93 d. The overall RTW rate was 89%. The pooled mean time to RTW ranged from 5.8-8.1 d. For patients with chronic ankle instability, higher preoperative motivation was the sole factor significantly and independently (P = 0.001) associated with the rate of and time to RTS following ligament repair or reconstruction. Higher body mass index was identified as a significant factor (P = 0.04) linked to not resuming sports or returning at a lower level (median 24, range 20-37), compared to those who resumed at the same or higher level (median 23, range 17-38). Patients with a history of psychological illness or brain injury, experienced a delay in their rehabilitation process for sprains with fractures and unspecified sprains. The extent of the delayed rehabilitation was directly proportional to the increased likelihood of experiencing a recurrence of the ankle sprain and the number of ankle-related medical visits. We also observed that 10% of athletes who did return to sport after lateral ankle sprain without fractures described non-ankle-related reasons for not returning.

CONCLUSION

All treatments yielded comparable results, with each treatment potentially offering unique advantages or benefits. Preoperative motivation may influence rehabilitation after LAS. Grading which factor had a greater impact was not possible due to the lack of comparability among the included patients.