Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025-11
Abstract
In the secondary school setting, athletic trainers are tasked with managing injury prevention and rehabilitation with a large number of athletes, resulting in oversights in the timeliness of delivering rehabilitation exercises. At Dixie Heights High School, there are over 250 fall sport athletes with one full-time certified athletic trainer (ATC) providing coverage for all fall sports. Due to the type of sports played during the fall, non-contact ankle injuries are the most common condition documented for fall sport athletes at Dixie Heights. Due to the overall high volume of athletes and high incidence of these ankle injuries, a significant amount of time has been dedicated to evaluating and rehabilitating non-contact ankle injuries. To improve this issue, an easy to utilize ankle “pre-hab” and “rehab” was posted in the athletic training facility and athletes were encouraged to scan and follow the provided exercises when they voiced concern about ankle instability or pain. Prior to implementing this change, there were 17 instances of non-contact ankle injuries over the first eight weeks of the fall sport season. After implementing the change, this number decreased to eight non-contact injuries over the following eight weeks. This decrease in non-contact ankle injuries proved the effectiveness of the implemented change but did not meet the goal of one n. While somewhat successful, further patient and coach education on the importance of utilizing preventative exercises is necessary to fully improve the incidence of non-contact ankle injuries.
Recommended Citation
McCormick, Patrick, "Decreasing Incidence of Ankle Injuries Through the Use of Direct Access to Rehabilitation Exercises" (2025). Athletic Training Case Studies. 9.
https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/at_casestudies/9
