22 The effects of two taping techniques on static and dynamic postural control in chronic ankle instability

Abstract

Background Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is a common sequela following an acute ankle sprain. One method to reduce pain and re-injury risk is to tape the ankle. The fibular repositioning taping method (FibRe) has been found to decrease risk of ankle sprains but there evidence is scarce of its effect on balance in CAI. Objective To examine static postural control and dynamic stability with two different ankle taping techniques in participants with CAI. Design Repeated measures study. Setting University biomechanics laboratory. Participants Twelve volunteers with CAI. Interventions Participants performed a drop-landing task, single leg stance eyes-open (SLS EO) and eyes-closed (SLS EC) tasks under 3 different conditions: (1) no tape (NT), (2) FibRe and (3) fibular repositioning “plus” (PLUS) with added lateral stability. Main outcome measurements The dynamic postural stability index (DPSI) (medial-lateral (MLSI), anterior-posterior and vertical) was measured during a drop-landing performance. The centre of pressure (CoP) components (mean velocity and total excursion in medial-lateral, anterior-posterior directions) was analysed for a 10 s SLS EO and SLS EC performance. Results There was a significant difference in the DPSI demonstrating that PLUS condition significantly improved (produced smaller) MLSI scores (0.073 ± 0.010) in comparison with NT (0.080 ± 0.010) (p = 0.022). There were no significant differences observed for the any of the other DPSI variables (p > 0.05). For SLS EO, there were significant improvements in all variables of CoP with both FibRe and PLUS tape conditions when compared to NT (p 0.05). Conclusion (s) Both ankle taping techniques resulted in an increase in static postural control in single leg stance eyes-open. Improvement in medial-lateral dynamic postural stability was observed only with the fibular repositioning PLUS technique in the drop-landing task.