The impact of ankle movements on venous return flow: A comparative study.

Objective: To compare the haemodynamic effects of different ankle movements combined ankle and toe movements on the femoral vein of the lower extremity.

Methods: 28 healthy volunteers participated in the study. Doppler ultrasound was used to measure peak systolic velocity and time-averaged mean velocity of the common femoral vein during ankle dorsiflexion, ankle dorsiflexion with simultaneous toe extension, ankle plantarflexion, and ankle plantarflexion with simultaneous toe flexion.

Results: In comparison to the resting state, both ankle alone or ankle combined with toe movement showed statistically significant differences (p < .01). However, there were no significant difference in the velocity of the common femoral vein between ankle alone and ankle combined with toe movement (p > .05). It is noteworthy that dorsiflexion of the ankle resulted in the highest peak velocity of blood flow.

Conclusion: The impact of ankle movement, with or without toe movement, the velocity of the common femoral vein is not significantly correlated.