Delaware State University breaking new ground to better understand ankle injuries

DOVER, Del. (WPVI) -- Researchers at Delaware State University are breaking new ground on understanding ankle injuries.

They've discovered that the amount of work ankle muscles do to maintain balance can predict who's likely to be injured.

Using a special frame, they simulate various athletic moves while measuring the electrical activity in ankle muscles to see how well they maintain balance.

"If we're examining the muscles and tracking the body parts, then we can actually correlate the two and determine that the muscles are not functioning properly to move the body parts," said Dr. Von Homer.

"Athletes who score 89 points or below would have a higher risk of injury to the lower extremities while performing these balance-related tasks," added Dr. Chris Mason.

The innovative test can pinpoint minute problems that other tests can't detect.

It's already been trademarked as the "Homer Technique" after Dr. Homer.