Tibial and peroneal nerve conduction studies in ankle sprain

BACKGROUND: Lower limb injuries and ankle sprain occur frequently among football players, due to the high incidence of physical contact. As a result, lower limb nerves are subject to injury. This project aims to evaluate the lower limb nerve conduction among students playing football to investigate the probable relationship between ankle sprain in football and nerve conductivity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty volunteer students aged between 19 and 25 were studied. They fell into three groups; one comprising of 20 healthy football players whose football experience exceeded three years, the second group with 15 football players who had suffered ankle sprain and the last group with 15 healthy non- sports students. Initially, the surface temperature of the foot skin was recorded. Then, the latency and the conduction velocity of deep peroneal and tibial nerves were recorded, statistical data analysis was conducted using statistical tests, i.e., "Independent sampleT", and "Paired T test". RESULTS: In the football player group, student with Hx of ankle sprain, the deep peroneal and tibial nerves distal latencies were significantly longer than the other two groups (P < or = 0.05). In addition, the nerve conduction velocity of the deep peroneal motor and tibial nerves showed a significant decrease in comparison with the other two groups (P < or = 0.05). CONCLUSION: Harming the lower limb nerves, football may increase the nerve latencies and hence decrease the conductivity in lower limbs. Therefore, in electrophysiologic tests of the football players lower limb nerves, especially those with lower limb injuries, one has to consider the fact that the decrease in the clinical neuroconductivity may be preexistent. Thus care should be taken in diagnosing neuropathy, in this group.