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Neural oscillations

Can a 120 bpm beat change how unstable ankles land?

Meng L, Wang Y, Wang Z, et al. · Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025

Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC

In 20 men with functional ankle instability, adapting to auditory rhythms—especially 120 bpm—shifted drop-landing torques toward a more proximal (hip/knee) strategy versus no-beat, 60, or 180 bpm.

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How this study connects

Role on claims

Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.

  • SupportsNeural Oscillationsconcept

    A rhythmic intervention with a mechanical outcome, and no oscillation recorded.

    An external rhythm reorganised movement without being a brain measurement at all. Auditory rhythm affected hip and knee range of motion, stiffness and torque during single-leg landings, with 120 bpm favouring a proximal-dominant torque redistribution and side-by-rhythm interactions on stiffness and torque.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

Study at a glance

Design
Human experiment — Within-subject drop-landing study: 20 men with FAI after auditory rhythmic adaptation (no beat, 60/120/180 bpm); two-way repeated-measures ANOVA (side × rhythm)
N
N=20 · 20 male FAI participants; unstable vs stable limb compared across four rhythm conditions
Population
Young men with functional ankle instability (mean age 23.5 years; CAIT 19.2 unstable vs 28.5 stable)
Outcome
GRF, joint torque, stiffness, and RoM during 30 cm single-leg drop landings

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Inspect source passages

Can a 120 bpm beat change how unstable ankles land?

These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.

20 male FAI participants landed under four rhythm conditions.

Twenty male FAI individuals performed single-leg drop landings under four rhythmic conditions (no rhythm, 60, 120, 180 bpm) after auditory rhythmic adaptation.

Mean age 23.50 years; CAIT 19.20 vs 28.50 (p < 0.001).

Age (23.50 ± 0.76) years, Height (175.50 ± 5.37) cm, Weight (71.90 ± 7.93) kg; CAIT (Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool) score: unstable side (19.20 ± 2.38), stable side (28.50 ± 0.51), p < 0.001
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Key findings

Side affected GRF, torque, and stiffness (p < 0.05). Rhythm affected hip/knee RoM, stiffness, and torque, with side×rhythm interactions on stiffness and torque. 120 bpm favored a proximal-dominant torque redistribution (higher hip/knee extension and ankle plantarflexion torques on the stable side).

Methodology

After a time-interval reproduction check, participants did single-leg drop landings from 30 cm under no rhythm and 60/120/180 bpm while Vicon cameras (100 Hz) and a force plate recorded kinematics and GRF; two-way repeated-measures ANOVA tested side × rhythm.

Limitations

A lab landing protocol in 20 young men cannot prove that 120 bpm metronomes prevent real-world ankle sprains or that the effect generalizes to women, older adults, or sport play.

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