Abstract
Chronic ankle instability refers to the occurrence of repetitive ankle sprains and persistent residual symptoms post-injury. This case report describes the incidence and prevalence of chronic ankle instability as well as the signs and symptoms of chronic ankle instability, factors that comprise chronic ankle instability, and interventions to treat chronic ankle instability both conservatively and surgically. Diagnostic ultrasound will be discussed by being compared and contrasted to other imaging techniques. The case patient is a 35-year-old woman referred to physical therapy by her orthopedic surgeon after a lateral ankle sprain. Following her initial physical therapy, which did not provide an acceptable outcome, she sought surgical intervention and underwent a modified Broström lateral ankle reconstruction procedure with fibularis (formerly known as peroneal) tenodesis and had subsequent physical therapy rehabilitation. Diagnostic ultrasound will be discussed as a viable imaging technique to use in a clinical setting. In particular, to assess the impaired ankle of the aforementioned case patient following a subjective report of increased ankle pain on the operative side following an episode of increased activity. This case report can be used as an illustration of the use of diagnostic ultrasound in an outpatient physical therapy clinical setting to assess soft tissue morphology for patients with acute reports of pain.