Search

BACKGROUND: Research on foot and ankle proprioception is crucial for the rehabilitation of chronic ankle instability and geriatric diseases as well as for the improvement of body posture control and motor performance. Previous studies have often studied the sensory evaluation of the foot and ankle joints separately, which has limitations for a comprehensive understanding of their sensory function. OBJECTIVE: The foot and ankle complex is the only part in direct contact with the support surface, and plays an important role in the collective sensory feedback and regulation and balance control. By combing the existing investigation and research of foot and ankle ontology, the measurement and evaluation methods of the sensation of the foot and ankle complex are combed, in order to pave the way and provide the theoretical basis for future related studies. METHODS: Chinese terms “(foot OR foot ankle OR ankle) AND (sensation OR proprioception)” and English terms “(foot OR ankle) AND (feel OR proprioception)” were used as the keywords for retrieving relevant literature in the Web of Science, PubMed, and CNKI. We understood the basic concepts, current status and scope of research on the foot and ankle, summarized and evaluated the proprioceptive evaluation methods of the foot and ankle, and finally included 57 papers for further review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The evaluation of foot and ankle complex sensation was mainly divided into sensory evaluation of the foot and proprioceptive evaluation of the ankle joint. The sensory evaluation of the foot mainly describes the sensation of the skin and the sensory feedback under the intervention conditions. The methods mainly include the pressure sensory threshold test, the two-point discrimination test of the foot (planar and plantar), and the duration test of skin vibration sensation. Ankle joint proprioception evaluation focuses on the description of joint position, motion range, force value and functional performance. The methods are mainly divided into static joint angle reset test, motion minimum threshold test, force perception reproduction test and dynamic balance, speed and walking ability tests. The report of quantitative results is generally expressed by “an error,” which is generally divided into absolute error, relative error, constant error, etc. To conclude, the foot and ankle complex has specific sensory capabilities, including foot sensation and ankle proprioception, which affect the quality of life and athletic performance of humans. Weakness of both foot sensation and ankle proprioception is associated with reduced human balance, and the combined measurements of the two can comprehensively and effectively evaluate foot and ankle function. The combination of foot and ankle sensory measures is selected according to different research needs and various influencing factors such as environment, emotion and reporting style are fully considered, to improve the validity of measurement and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]