ArticlePloS one2018
Intrinsic ankle stiffness during standing increases with ankle torque and passive stretch of the Achilles tendon.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Different stabilizing mechanisms but a common task-level aim in standing and walking.PloS one · 2026Article
- Changes in balance performance and Its determining factors in the lower leg during the competition season in adolescent football players.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Acute Lateral Ankle Sprain Impairs Function and Strength Without Altering Muscle or Tendon Stiffness: A Controlled Observational Study.Orthopaedic surgery · 2025Observational
- Exploring the relationship of static and dynamic balance with muscle mechanical properties of the lower limbs in healthy young adults.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- A novel method of assessing balance and postural sway in patients with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Frontal plane ankle stiffness increases with axial load independent of muscle activity.Journal of biomechanics · 2022Article
- Analysis of Light Grip Influence on Standing Posture.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Frontal plane ankle stiffness increases with weight-bearing.Journal of biomechanics · 2021Article
- Individual differences in intrinsic ankle stiffness and their relationship to body sway and ankle torque.PloS one · 2021Article
- Idiosyncratic Characteristics of Postural Sway in Normal and Perturbed Standing.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
- Anticipatory coadaptation of ankle stiffness and sensorimotor gain for standing balance.PLoS computational biology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Individuals may stand with a range of ankle angles. Furthermore, shoes or floor surfaces may elevate or depress their heels. Here we ask how these situations impact ankle stiffness and balance. We performed two studies (each with 10 participants) in which the triceps surae, Achilles tendon and aponeurosis were stretched either passively, by rotating the support surface, or actively by leaning forward. Participants stood freely on footplates which could rotate around the ankle joint axis. Brief, small stiffness-measuring perturbations (<0.7 deg; 140 ms) were applied at intervals of 4-5 s. In study 1, participants stood at selected angles of forward lean. In study 2, normal standing was compared with passive dorsiflexion induced by 15 deg toes-up tilt of the support surface. Smaller perturbations produced higher stiffness estimates, but for all perturbation sizes stiffness increased with active torque or passive stretch. Sway was minimally affected by stretch or lean, suggesting that this did not underlie the alterations in stiffness. In quiet stance, maximum ankle stiffness is limited by the tendon. As tendon strain increases, it becomes stiffer, causing an increase in overall ankle stiffness, which would explain the effects of leaning. However, stiffness also increased considerably with passive stretch, despite a modest torque increase. We discuss possible explanations for this increase.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.