The Effects of Ankle Bracing.
- Dec 12, 2022
- 3 min read
Ankle injuries as well as ankle braces and taping are increasingly common in the world of sport, with many using support as preventative measures as well as for rehabilitation. This is especially common in sports like netball which require a lot of jumping, landing, sharp change of directions and speed changes.
Due to these requirements of quick change of directions and physicality, ankle injuries are most commonly found, with a high incidence of ankle sprains. Injury prevention via ankle bracing is considered a progressively important measure when it comes to managing ankle sprains. In the following blog, we will look into the effects ankle supports have as a preventative measure, on the range of motion at the ankle and netball-related movements.
Most of the current literature is directed at female athletes and the recurrence of ankle injuries when wearing different types of ankle supports. When comparing the use of taping, bracing and a combination of both methods, results found injury occurrence was lower for the braced group in comparison to both the non-brace group and the taped group. There were also no differences in injury reoccurrence either which provides us with evidence to support bracing to be the most effective method for injury prevention, as well as injury reoccurrence.
In addition, it is also found that despite there being significant differences in the ankle injuries sustained when wearing support at the ankle and when not, the severity of the injuries is found to be very similar regardless of the condition of the group or whether they had experienced any previous ankle injuries or not.
As gathered, most of the findings prove ankle braces and taping to be effective methods in injury prevention and the prevention of the reoccurrence of injuries at the ankle. Therefore, this provides evidence to support their effectiveness and should be considered by athletes if ankle injuries were an issue interfering with their sporting performance.
As a preventative measure, ankle supports have the role of preventing both inversion and eversion, and as a result, can cause restrictions in the range of motion at the ankle. It is known that wearing an ankle brace will restrict the range of motion at the ankle which is one reason why athletes opt for other options of support as this may affect their performance in sports. Many ask questions regarding what supports to buy or whether they should use tape instead of a brace. Evidence suggests that semirigid ankle supports tend to have a significantly larger restriction on the range of motion at the ankle in comparison to using tape and/or lace-up supports.
With regards to taping, it is found that the range of motion restriction is dependent on the type of tape used when strapping the ankle. For example, using “non-elastic zinc oxide tape” restricted inversion of the ankle by 37% and using “elastic tape” restricted it by 26%. It was also discovered that from 10 minutes to up to an hour of physical activity, the tape became looser than when originally applied, causing an increase in ROM at the ankle. This did not occur for the first 10 minutes of physical activity therefore there was an increased restriction for this time frame. This means the type of tape someone would use is dependent on the amount of support and/or restriction each person prefers.
Despite taping and bracing being excellent injury-preventative measures, the best way to keep your ankle strong and prevent it from getting injured is to STRENGTHEN IT!
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