Effect of Q-angle, Lateral Distal Tibial Angle and Proximal Muscle Torque on Ankle Injury

This study was undertaken to examine the effect of Q angle, lateral distal tibial angle (LDTA), and lower extremity isometric muscle torque on ankle sprain. Among 40 participants with ankle sprain, Q angle and LDTA measurements in both extremities were performed using X-ray images, while the muscle strength in gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and quadriceps femoris were determined with hand held dynamometer, and the muscle torque was estimated by multiplying these values with the distance to the joint center. The obtained data were analyzed by separation analysis. No significant relationship was found between the Q angle and ankle sprain (p\> 0.05). A strong positive correlation was found between LDTA and ankle sprain (p = 0.01). A strong negative correlation was found between quadriceps femoris muscle strength, gluteus medius muscle strength and gluteus maximus muscle strength with ankle sprain (p \<0.001, p = 0.001, p \<0.001, respectively). A strong negative relationship was found between quadriceps, gluteus medius and gluteus maximus muscle torques with ankle sprain (p \<0.001, p = 0.011, p = 0.002, respectively). As suggested by the discrimination analysis, independent variables that contributed most to ankle injury included the gluteus maximus muscle torque (MAXIMUSTORQ) (.906), gluteus medius muscle torque (MEDIUSTORQ) (. 494), lateral distal tibial angle (.436) and quadriceps femoris muscle. torque (QUADRTORQ) (. 341), respectively. In conclusion, strengthening the quadriceps femoris, gluteus medius and gluteus maximus muscles may be suggested as an effective strategy to prevent ankle sprain. It may be helpful to pay attention to individuals with high LDTA to prevent ankle sprains.