Objective To evaluate how proprioception affect ankle stability through comparing angle position awareness and peroneus reaction time between chronic ankle lateral instability patients and healthy controls.Methods A total of 51 participants were recruited into an experimental group of 21 patients with chronic ankle lateral instability (17 males,aged 31.6±2.6) and a control group of 30 healthy counterparts (24 males,aged 34.2±2.3).All the participants were asked to reoccur passive ankle position under the angular velocity at 2 degree per second when they were resting with non-weight bearing in their recruited ankles.The muscle reaction time (MRT)of peroneus longus(PL) and peroneus brevis (PB) in all the recruited ankles was measured during sudden ankle inversion both with and without ankle protective brace wearing.Results The difference between angle recurrence and the target angle (ankle inversion 20° and 30°) was significantly higher (P＜0.05) in the experimental group compared to the control group.The average MRTs of PL and PB were also significantly longer (P＜0.05) in the experimental group than the control group,whether wearing ankle protective braces or not.However,within both groups,no significant differences of PL and PB's MRT were identified between brace wearing and no brace (P＞0.05).Conclusions In patients with chronic lateral ankle instability,the position awareness decreases and the reaction time of peroneus is prolonged.Ankle braces can provide mechanical protection to the injured joints,but cannot promote MRT significantly.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical efficacy of the 3-in-1 technique of Disc-FX system,namely:discectomy,radiofrequency ablation and annuloplasty for discogenic low back pain in the early stage.MethodsFrom February 2010 to February 2011,40 patients with the discogenic low back pain underwent discectomy,radiofrequency ablation and annuloplasty using Disc-FX system were retrospectively analyzed,including 22 males and 18 females with an average age of 38.7 years(range,32-58 years).The visual analogue scale (VAS) scoring was applied to evaluate the back and low limb pain at preoperative,postoperative 1week,3 months,6 months,and last follow-up.The Macnab score was also evaluated at last follow-up.Results All the patients were followed up for average 13.8 months (range,6-18 months).The operative time averaged 26 min(range,20-40 min).No surgical complication was found during the follow-up.The VAS of preoperative low back pain was 6.60±1.47,VAS score of low back pain at postoperative 1 week,3 months,6 months,and final follow-up were 1.05±0.68,1.15±0.70,1.00±0.62,0.95±0.63,respectively.The postoperative VAS of low back pain decreased significantly compared with that preoperative.The VAS of preoperative limb pain was 3.05±1.23,VAS score of limb pain at postoperative 1 week,3 months,6 months,and final follow-up after operation were 1.10±0.74,1.15±0.70,1.10±0.72,0.95±0.54,respectively.The postoperative VAS of limb pain decreased significantly compared with that preoperative.The evaluation of Macnab score were excellent in 20 patients,good in 17,fair in 2,and poor in 1,suggesting an effective rate of 92.5％ (37/40).Conclusion Disc-FX system,which combined three surgical technique in one procedure,provides a new choice for orthopedics to treat discogenic low back pain.It can give satisfactory clinical outcomes during a short-term followup,but the long term clinical outcomes remains unknown.