Foot orientation affects muscle activation levels of ankle stabilizers in a single-legged balance board protocol Roel De Ridder a,⇑ , Tine Willems b , Sophie De Mits a , Jos Vanrenterghem c , Philip Roosen a a Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium b Department of Physiotherapy and Orthopedics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium c School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK article info Article history: Available online xxxx PsycINFO classification: 3380 Keywords: Balance training Uniaxial board Foot orientation Muscle activity abstract Context: The main goal of balance training is regaining a normal neuromuscular control to a functional level. Although uniaxial bal- ance boards are commonly used, no research has been done on the effect of foot orientation on muscle activation levels. Objective: To investigate the effect of foot orientation on muscle activation levels and modulation of the ankle stabilizing muscles in a single-legged balance protocol on a uniaxial balance board. Methods: Sixty-nine healthy subjects (age: 21.8 ± 1.7 years; mass: 67.5 ± 11.9 kg; body height: 174.7 ± 8.6 cm; BMI: 21.5 ± 3.0) par- ticipated in this study. Subjects were asked to keep their balance during a single leg stance on a uniaxial balance board for four dif- ferent foot orientations, aligning the board’s rotation axis with frontal, sagittal, diagonal and subtalar axes of the foot, respec- tively. Surface electromyography registered muscle activity of peroneus longus, tibialis anterior, medial and lateral gastrocne- mius muscles. Results: Highest muscle activation levels and modulation for the peroneus longus were registered exercising along the frontal axis; for the tibialis anterior along the diagonal axis; for the medial gastrocnemius along the sagittal axis; and for the lateral gastroc- nemius along the diagonal axis. 0167-9457/$ - see front matter Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2013.12.008 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: De Pintelaan 185, 3B3, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Tel.: +32 (0)9 332 04 53; fax: +32 (0)9 332 38 11. E-mail addresses: Roel.DeRidder@ugent.be (R. De Ridder), Tine.Willems@ugent.be (T. Willems), Sophie.DeMits@ugent.be (S. De Mits), J.Vanrenterghem@ljmu.ac.uk (J. Vanrenterghem), Philip.Roosen@ugent.be (P. Roosen). Human Movement Science xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Human Movement Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/humov Please cite this article in press as: De Ridder, R., et al. Foot orientation affects muscle activation levels of ankle stabilizers in a single-legged balance board protocol. Human Movement Science (2014), http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.humov.2013.12.008