Abstract
Few studies have examined the role of shoe height in the context of American football cleats. Eighteen adult males (28.4 ± 1.9 years, 182.3 ± 0.6 cm, 75.7 ± 1.6 kg) performed four football drills (60-yd dash, 54-yd cutting drill, 5-10-5 drill [pro agility drill], and ladder jumping drill) in low-top, mid-top, and high-top American football cleats. Drill-specific performance outcomes were measured after each drill, and the subjects’ ankle range-of-motion (dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, eversion, inversion) and perception of the footwear (comfort, heaviness, stability) were assessed before and after each drill sequence. Performance outcomes were not influenced by shoe height. The high-top cleat limited dorsiflexion and inversion, but not plantarflexion or eversion, compared to low-top and mid-top cleats. Athletes rated the high-top cleats as less comfortable and heavier than either the low-top or mid-top cleats, but perceived the mid-top and high-top cleats to be equally stable to each other, and both more stable than the low-top cleats. Range-of-motion and performance scores did not change as a result of acute exercise. These findings suggest that high-top cleats may limit ankle motions associated with injury without deleteriously influencing performance, though athletes may not perceive the high-top cleats as favorably as low- or mid-top cleats.
Highlights
Proper footwear is vital to optimal performance and injury prevention and should be based on individual athlete characteristics, movements required by the sport, and playing environment [1,2,3,4,5]
High-top shoes have been conventionally indicated for athletes who are convalescing from ankle injuries or may have increased ankle injury risk [6], or who play certain positions [7], given the footwear’s presumed ability to limit ankle range-of-motion (ROM) [2,4]
Most ankle sprains occur through inappropriate eversion which strains the ATFL and not eversion movements because the deltoid ligament is relatively stronger [2,19], so inversion was of particular concern given the high incidence of ankle sprains in American football [12,13,14]
Summary
Proper footwear is vital to optimal performance and injury prevention and should be based on individual athlete characteristics (such as stature and injury history), movements required by the sport, and playing environment [1,2,3,4,5]. Volleyball shoes [11] have explored the possible relationships between shoe height, ROM, and/or injury risk utilizing both laboratory and clinical models but have yielded conflicting results. One laboratory study of American football shoes (hereafter referred to as cleats) demonstrated that a high-top cleat reduced both total inversion and maximal rates of inversion compared to a low-top cleat in 20 male physical education students tested on a drop platform that inverted the ankle to 35° [15]. The limited data on American football cleats are conflicting and do not address other questions important to athletes such as the effects of high-tops on other ankle motions (such as dorsiflexion or plantarflexion) or if high-tops maintain their effects on ROM during physical activity [19].
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