Supervised Rehabilitation Versus Home Exercise in the Treatment of Acute Ankle Sprains

In competitive sports medicine, supervised rehabilitation is the standard of care; in the general population, unsupervised home exercise is more frequently prescribed. Randomized, controlled trials comparing outcomes for supervised rehabilitation versus home exercise programs were reviewed. Supervised rehabilitation programs resulted in less pain and subjective instability, more substantial in ankle strength and joint position sense, and inconclusive results in regards to prevention of recurrent ankle sprains. The study recommends supervised rehabilitation over home exercise programs due to the improved short-term patient-recorded evidence with a strength-of-recommendation taxonomy level of evidence of 2B.