title: Ankle stabilizers affect agility but not vertical jump or dynamic balance performance.
abstract: Ankle stabilizers can reduce ankle sprain incidence and severity by limiting range of motion. Still whether using them affects performance remains unclear. The authors compared effects of 3 ankle stabilizers, tape, lace-up (Swede-O Ankle Lok), and semirigid (Air-Cast Air-Stirrup) braces, and a nonsupport control on vertical jump (Sargent Jump Test), agility (Right-Boomerang Run test), and dynamic balance (Modified Bass Test) in 10 volunteers (4 males, 6 females; 25.6 ± 2.8 years, 167.8 ± 13.7 cm, 61.4 ± 10.7 kg) using repeated-measures ANOVAs. Participants had similar vertical jump (P = .27; control = 41.40 ± 11.89 cm, tape = 37.90 ± 7.92 cm, Swede-O = 41.40 ± 11.89 cm, Air-Cast = 39.29 ± 10.85 cm) and dynamic balance (P = .08; control = 92.50 ± 2.46, tape = 91.55 ± 3.53, Swede-O = 97.00 ± 5.32, Air-Cast = 89.40 ± 6.08) but differing agility scores (P = .03; control = 13.55 ± 1.35 seconds, tape = 14.03 ± 1.5 seconds, Swede-O = 14.10 ± 1.36 seconds, Air-Cast = 14.14 ± 1.41 seconds). Post hoc tests revealed a significant difference (P = .03) between control and Air-Cast but not between Swede-O (P = .06) or tape (P = .07). Effect size (d) analyses indicated that compared with control, all stabilizers trended to increase agility run times (tape, d = 0.33; Swede-O, d = 0.40; Air-Cast, d = 0.43). Since participants primarily required sagittal plane motion when jumping vertically and had relatively slow directional changes in the dynamic balance test, wearing ankle stabilizers did not hamper jump or balance. However, ankle stabilizers hindered participants' ability to perform quick directional changes required in the agility test, with the most rigid stabilizer (Air-Cast) affecting agility the most. Clinicians should be aware that ankle stabilizers may affect some performance measures (agility) but not others (jumping, balance) and continue examinations in larger cohorts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Therapeutic, Level II.
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine Assessment Research and Testing Laboratory, George Mason University, Manassas, VA 20110, USA. jambegao@gmu.edu
authors.forename: Jatin P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Ambegaonkar
authors.forename: Charles J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Redmond
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cortes
authors.forename: Shruti J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ambegaonkar
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Guyer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016512:Ankle Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D055052:Athletic Tape; D001915:Braces; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology; D013180:Sprains and Strains / Q000517:prevention & control