Fascial manipulation can improve pain and postural stability in patients with functional ankle instability and evidence of retinacular changes on magnetic resonance imaging, according to research from Italy presented in November at the AAPM&R meeting.

In an earlier study, published in the August issue of Cells Tissues Organs, the same investigators from the University of Padua reported that MRI demonstrated retinacular changes in 10 of 17 patients with a history of ankle sprain.

In the current study, retinacular changes were seen on MRI in 11 of 20 patients with functional ankle instability. Those 11 patients underwent three treatment sessions of fascial manipulation.

After treatment, the patients reported a statistically significant mean pain reduction of 32.2% from baseline levels, as measured using a visual analog scale. Postural stability also improved significantly from baseline as measured using static posturography. Mean sway path (the length of the trajectory of the center of pressure over the support base as a function of time) improved from 7.9 mm/s at baseline to 6.9 mm/s after three treatments.

By Jordana Bieze Foster