Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess whether combining electrotherapies with therapeutic exercise (TEx) for chronic ankle instability (CAI) is more effective than TEx alone. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science were searched to ascertain studies relevant to this review published from inception until September 2024. STUDY SELECTION: Studies included were randomized control trials, including human participants with no restriction on sex, age, or setting, with an intervention of electrotherapy in combination with TEx compared with TEx alone for treating CAI. DATA EXTRACTION: Each article was reviewed to establish if a type of electrotherapy was used with TEx for rehabilitating CAI and compared with TEx alone. DATA SYNTHESIS: A total of 3118 articles was found for review, with 7 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. The 7 studies were then divided into 4 groups: stochastic resonance stimulation, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation, and neuromuscular electrical stimulation for comparison. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from the studies included in this review suggested that combining electrotherapy with TEx has preferable functional outcome measures than TEx alone when rehabilitating CAI.