Trial reportBMC musculoskeletal disorders2025
Heel kicking exercise rapidly improves pain and function in patients with acute lateral ankle sprain: a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ankle pump exercises do not produce clinically meaningful benefits in oedema, pain, functionality or mobility after acute ankle sprain: a randomised controlled trial.Brazilian journal of physical therapy · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation treated anterior talo-fibular ligament injured rat through the gut-joint axis and intestinal microbiota.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAnkle sprain is one of the common traumatic injuries in daily life, and PRICE (protection, rest, ice, compression pressure bandaging, elevation of the affected limb) principle is routinely recommended at its early stage. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), bone-setting technique (BST) can quickly relieve ankle pain and improve walking function, but physicians require high skills and physical strength. In this study, we designed an exercise-heel kicking exercise (HKE) based on the principles and methods of BST. This study aims to observe its true efficacy and safety.
methods68 patients (18-45 years old) with grade I and II lateral ankle sprain within 48 h were recruited from TCM hospital affiliated to Guangzhou medical university and 60 cases meeting the criteria were enrolled and randomized into control group and intervention group (30 cases separately). The patients in both groups were treated with the PRICE and ankle pump exercise, and the ones in intervention group added heel kicking exercise (HKE). The visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, swelling degree, and American orthopedic foot & ankle society ankle-hindfoot scale (AOFAS) score before and after the intervention (within 4 W), and Karlsson score (the 26th week follow-up) were measured.
resultsBefore treatment, there were no significant differences in VAS scores, swelling degrees and AOFAS scores between two groups. During the treatment for 4 weeks, VAS scores and swelling degrees of the patients in both groups gradually decreased, and the AOFAS score gradually increased (p < 0.01). In addition, patients in the intervention group were observed to get a quicker pain reliever, swelling subsiding, and ankle function restore than those in control group at most of time points of observation (1st d, 3rd d, 1st w, 2nd w, 4th w) (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). But there was no significant difference in Karlsson scores between two groups at the 26th week follow-up.
conclusionsHKE is a method designed to provide rapid movement rehabilitation for patients with ankle sprains, which can be used as one of its basic treatments.
trial registrationThis study was registered in China Clinical Trial Center (NO. ChiCTR2300073709). Trial registration date: August 16th 2022.
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.