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Wolfgang Miesbach: Weight-Bearing Lunge Test for Ankle Assessment in Haemophilia?
Jun 30, 2026, 03:19

Wolfgang Miesbach: Weight-Bearing Lunge Test for Ankle Assessment in Haemophilia?

Wolfgang Miesbach, Professor of Medicine at Frankfurt University Hospital, shared on LinkedIn about a recent article by Firat Tan et al, published in Haemophilia, adding:

”Weight-Bearing Lunge Test for ankle assessment in haemophilia?

In a new open-access paper in Haemophilia, Tan et al. systematically evaluate the weight-bearing lunge test (WBLT) as a functional, ankle‑specific outcome in young people with haemophilia who have only limited joint damage.

This is a simple test where the patient stands facing a wall and lunges forward, trying to touch the knee to the wall while keeping the heel on the ground.

The distance from the toes to the wall (or the angle of the tibia) reflects how much dorsiflexion the ankle can achieve in a weight‑bearing position – similar to everyday activities such as walking or stair climbing.

This study is the first to rigorously validate WBLT in haemophilia. It shows excellent test–retest reliability and demonstrates that WBLT results correlate with haemophilia‑specific joint health scores (HJHS), ankle‑focused ultrasound findings (HEAD‑US), and smartphone‑based tibial inclination measurements in children and young adults on prophylaxis with low overall joint scores.

By focusing on patients with minimal structural damage, the authors demonstrate that WBLT can uncover subtle, clinically relevant functional ankle deficits that conventional joint scoring alone may miss.

This positions WBLT as a practical, low‑cost addition to routine ankle monitoring and rehabilitation outcome assessment in haemophilia care.

Congratulations to the authors Firat Tan, Selin Aytac, Adalet Elcin Yildiz, Prof, Edir, Hande G.

Title: Weight-Bearing Lunge Test in Young Patients With Haemophilia and Limited Joint Damage: Reliability and Functional Associations for Ankle Assessment

Authors: Firat Tan, Selin Aytac, Adalet Elcin Yildiz, Hande Guney Deniz

Wolfgang Miesbach: Weight-Bearing Lunge Test for Ankle Assessment in Haemophilia?

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