Tape Versus Semirigid Versus Lace-up Ankle Support in the Treatment of Acute Lateral Ankle Ligament Injury.

The patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding the function of the ankle joint. The score includes eight items based on a subjective evaluation of stability, pain, swelling and stiffness in relation to activities of everyday life, sports and recreational activities, running, stair climbing and working ability. The maximum score is 100 points.

Time to return to work Work at level / below level / no return to work

Time to return to sports Sports at level / below level /no return to sports

VAS score 0-10: 0 = no pain, 10 = unbearable pain

Anterior Drawer Test (ADT). The patient sits on a bench with the legs hanging downwards. The knee joint is flexed and the foot held in 150 plantar flexion. First the healthy ankle is examined. Examination is performed according to van Dijk. 38 The examiner assigned one of the four predetermined numbers to each examined ankle joint, based on the estimated anterior displacement of the talus relative to the tibia.

0 = 0-2mm, 1 = 3-5mm, 2 = 6-10mm and 3 = 11-15mm

DAAT. Because the manual ADT is of a subjective nature we measure the instability with the dynamic anterior ankle tester (DAAT). 39 The principle of the test is to apply a force impulse tot the calcaneus, within the muscle reflex time, and to measure anterior-posterior translation and mediolateral rotation. The highest and the lowest score were discarded and the mean of the three remaining scores counted as the result of the test.

Degrees maximum dorsiflexion to plantarflexion

Yes/no Number of sprains per month

Any event leading to discontinuation of study participation and temporary or permanent physical damage due to the treatment under investigation (Local skin irritations (contact dermatitis and folliculitis), sensory deficit, stiffness, muscle atrophy). Use of not allowed painkillers is also an adverse event.

• Yes / no
• Total number of complications per patient and per group

Mean per group

The EuroQol (EQ5D) is a health related quality of life instrument that provides a single index of an individual's quality of life. It consists of 5 dimensions resulting in 243 possible health states.

Main objective of the economic evaluation is to assess the cost effectiveness and cost-utility of brace and tape therapy of acute lateral ankle ligament injury. The economic evaluation will be performed from a societal perspective, implying that both direct health care and direct non-health care costs, as well as indirect costs will be used as economic indicators. Firstly, relevant categories of resource utilisation were identified. Secondly, the volume of each category was measured and multiplied by the resource costs.

How many full days did you not wear the (semi rigid / lace-up) brace? Tape compliance is always 100% (except in cases of complications / adverse events)

FAOS consists of 5 subscales; Pain, other Symptoms, Function in daily living (ADL), Function in sport and recreation (Sport Rec), and foot and ankle-related Quality of Life (QOL). The last week is taken into consideration when answering the questionnaire. Standardized answer options are given (% Likert boxes) and each question gets a score from 0 to 4. A normalized score (100 indicating no symptoms and 0 indicating extreme symptoms) is calculated for each subscale. The result can be plotted as an outcome profile.