Unilateral lower-limb musculoskeletal injury: Its long-term effect on balance

Objective: To assess if any long-term decrements in balance occur after unilateral musculoskeletal injury. The relation between the size of decrement and the dominance, the type, and the time since injury were also considered. Design: With eyes open and closed, postural sway in one-legged standing was recorded for 10 seconds in 48 subjects who sustained a unilateral musculoskeletal injury 6 months to 42 years earlier. Comparative data were also collected in 108 healthy subjects with no previous injury. Setting: A university physiologic laboratory. Patients: Injured subjects were recruited locally via the district general hospital, sports injury clinic, and the university, and had not received any treatment within the past 6 months. Main Outcome Measure: Postural sway of the injured and uninjured limb (or dominant and nondominant limb in the uninjured subjects). Results: Postural sway was significantly greater in the injured limb compared with the uninjured limb (p = .0118). The ratio of the postural sway of the injured limb compared with the uninjured limb (I/UI%) was significantly lower in the group with nondominant injuries (p = .0085). Subjects with nondominant injuries performed significantly better than those with dominant injuries (p = .0085). No relation was found between the decrements in balance performance and the type of injury and time since injury. Conclusions: Full recovery is frequently not achieved and perhaps recovery does not continue to improve once the formal rehabilitation period is over.