The influence of ankle support on postural control

Abstract

Postural control assessments are commonly administered to athletes as part of a pre-season screening. Establishing a baseline level of function permits the clinician to compare post-injury results to normal functioning during the return to play decision-making process. In the athletic setting, follow-up tests may be completed on the sideline immediately following injury. We sought to examine the effect of commonly administered external ankle joint support on postural control using the balance error scoring system (BESS) and the NeuroCom sensory organization test (SOT). Nineteen volunteers free from balance issues completed three sessions with varied ankle support: bilateral prophylactic ankle taping, laced bracing device, or barefoot. Each session included an initial balance assessment on the BESS and SOT, a 20min treadmill walk, and post-walk balance test. Fewer errors, indicating improved balance, were committed on the BESS during the barefoot condition than the braced ankle condition (p=0.044) at the pre-walk assessment. During the post-walk assessment, fewer errors were committed during the barefoot condition compared to the braced ankle condition (p=0.034) and the taped ankle condition (p=0.037). All ankle support conditions showed similar improvements in balance between the pre and post-walk assessments on the BESS (p<0.001) and SOT composite balance score (p=0.009). These findings indicate that ankle support devices may influence postural control on the BESS, but not on the NeuroCom SOT. Clinicians using the BESS as a balance assessment device at multiple time points should be consistent in the application of ankle support devices.