BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is frequently used to decrease swelling in the early period after ankle sprain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate its effectiveness in this treatment. SUBJECTS: Thirty-four subjects (11 female, 23 male; mean age 30.2 years) who were recovering from ankle sprain participated. METHODS: Outcome measures were ankle-foot volume, ankle girth, and self-assessed ankle function. Three testing raining sessions occurred within 5 days of injury. Subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: a group that received NMES treatment, a group that received submotor ES treatment (designed to act as a control group), and a group that received sham treatment. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences among the groups for ankle-foot volume and self-assessed ankle function. The statistically significant differences for ankle girth may have been compromised due to the significantly different values among groups at baseline. Ankle girth measurements were shown to be statistically significant from session 1 to session 3 for the NMES group but not for the other 2 groups. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The results indicate that NMES, as designed and used in this study, is not effective in decreasing ankle-foot volume or increasing self-assessed ankle function in the early period after ankle sprain.

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