1 Before you use it
What it is
Nine items on how unstable the ankle actually feels — pain, giving way, and the ability to control it during running, hopping, going down stairs and walking on uneven ground.
"Uneven ground" is in here, which is why it pairs so directly with the sinus tarsi and chronic ankle instability pages.
When to reach for it
Any ankle sprain at the point of discharge, and every chronic instability presentation.
Score it at discharge after a first sprain. That is the moment the recurrence problem is created, and a low CAIT in a patient who looks fine is the signal.
Patterns it serves · 3
2 Giving it
Scoring
Nine items, differently weighted, totalling 0–30. Higher is better — 30 is a fully stable ankle. Score each ankle separately.
A cut-point around 24–25 is commonly used to define functional ankle instability. No verified cut-point is carried in our library and none is printed here.
What it doesn’t measure
Mechanical laxity — an anterior drawer is a different question. And balance — measure single-leg stance and SEBT.
Repeat it
3 Reading the score
Interpreting it
Interpret against baseline and against the other ankle.
It measures perceived instability, which is exactly what a patient with CAI complains of and exactly what a function score misses.
Is the change real?
On placement
Chronic ankle instability, 8 weeks of balance and hop training. CAIT 19 at intake, 23 today; the other ankle 28.
Read it as 4 points up. That is over the 1.87-point MDC and the 3-point MCID (both measured in chronic ankle instability), so it is real and it matters. It is also still 5 points behind the other ankle, and the conventional cut-point for instability sits around 24–25.
Do keep going — the gap to the other ankle is the target, not the change so far. Re-score both ankles at 12 weeks.
Student trap. Discharging a first-time sprain without scoring it. Perceived instability is what predicts the next one.
Official source: null. We don't host the form.
This is a learning tool. It does not diagnose patients and does not replace your clinical educator.
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