To assess the effect of a five-week training program using a wobble board on discrimination of discrete movements at the ankle, 40 ankles were tested from 20 subjects in a group of elite athletes. Players in a first grade rugby league squad were randomly allocated to either a wobble board training or no-training group. Pre-tests to assess discrimination of inversion movements made while standing were carried out on both ankles of all subjects using an automated device that enabled a normal share of weightbearing on the tested ankle. From a sequence of 160 inversion movements, a discrimination index was determined. This measure represents the relative difference in angular extent needed for an inversion mevement to be differentiated 75% of the time from the standard movement of 12.5 degrees below horizontal. Subjects were re-tested after either undertaking a five-week wobble board training program, or having had no training. Discrimination of movements into inversion improved from the pre-test (Weber fraction 8.8%) to the post training test (6.4%) in the wobble board trained group. This discrimination improvement was significantly greater than the change in the untrained group (pre-test 8.4% and post-test 8.1%). These data demonstrate that wobble board training can improve discrimination of discrete ankle inversion movements, and support the Weber fraction as a measure of movement sensitivity.

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