The ankle meter: an instrument for evaluation of anterior talar drawer in ankle sprain.

The aim of this study was to work out a clinical test which is possible to measure the anterior talar drawer (ATD) in patients after ankle sprain. The instrument for evaluation was called "ankle meter". The instrument consists of two plastic scales (heal scale and tibia scale). The instrument allows quantifying the results of the anterior drawing test. A total of 38 persons (16 men, 22 women) were available as control group. The persons were 28.8+/-10.1 years old. No proband had any ankle problems in his history. A total of 45 patients (25 males, 20 females) suffering from ankle sprain were included in the study. In these patients stress radiography (147.1 N) was performed to measure the ATD. In control group the clinical measured ATD was 1.7+/-1.3 mm. Measurement for detect the interobserver validity did not detect significant differences. The ATD of the joint after ankle sprain was significantly higher (8.9+/-4.3 mm). The difference between healthy and injured ankle in case of an ankle sprain was 7.4+/-4.2 mm. There was a significant correlation between clinical and radiological measured ATD (R=0.91). The results suggest that it is possible to measure the ATD exactly. The values of the clinical ATD measurement showed a good correlation with the results of stress radiography. Diligent clinical examination in combination with this special test are after this experiences sufficient to classify the severity of injury after ankle sprain.