Effects of external ankle support and dual-tasking on gait in patients with chronic lateral ankle instability.

Background: Chronic Lateral Ankle Instability (CLAI) is a common condition that significantly impacts patient outcomes, necessitating optimal rehabilitation management. The present study aims to assess the therapeutic efficacy of McConnell taping, McDavid A101 semi-rigid ankle braces, and dual-tasking on gait patterns in individuals with CLAI, thereby informing evidence-based rehabilitation protocols.

Methods: Employing a self-controlled pre-post design, the study included individuals with CLAI treated at our facility, paired with an equal number of healthy controls. The study evaluated gait speed, stride time variability (STV), ankle plantarflexion and inversion angles, and the accuracy rate of serial-7 subtraction tasks.

Results: 60 participants were finally included. External support and cognitive task significantly affected gait speed. The use of taping significantly increased the gait speed of the experimental group during walking alone ( = 0.018) and during the subtraction task ( = 0.017), and the ankle brace increased the gait speed during the subtraction task in the experimental group ( = 0.027). Both groups had lower subtraction task accuracy while walking barefoot.

Conclusion: In the context of CLAI rehabilitation, it may be beneficial to consider not only the strategic application of external supports but also the potential benefits of leveraging the interaction between central and peripheral mechanism. This approach may contribute to the development of more effective rehabilitation strategies for individuals with CLAI.

Trial Registration: Our study was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on January 16, 2025, under the registration number ChiCTR2500096052.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13102-025-01215-1.