Ankle Injuries

In light of Andrea's ankle injury this past game, and the fact that I also rolled my ankle during that game a bit I was looking at some information on taping/wrapping/bracing. There are good videos and how tos for taping and wrapping out there for anyone who is intersted. Also I found the below article which I found to be some interesting food for thought. It is an exerpt from this article

Taping Pros and Cons

In most cases, athletes prefer taping because it's customized and less bulky. Although taping may be the method of choice, drawbacks exist, one of which is cost. If an athlete needs repetitive taping over an extended time, costs can be considerable.

What's more, a qualified person needs to apply the tape appropriately. If it's applied incorrectly, ankle joint support will be inadequate and other problems, such as blisters, tape cuts and biomechanical problems may occur. If taping is the chosen method of support, the athlete must have a quality tape job that's applied by a qualified person.

Another disadvantage is that taping loses its effectiveness shortly after play begins. Studies have shown that taping support decreases between 40 percent and 50 percent anywhere between five and 20 minutes into the activity.² Shapiro et al. also showed that quality of support deteriorated with use when athletes taped their ankles.³ But taping does help prevent ankle injury. A landmark study by Garrick and Requa (1973) concluded that taping did have a significant role in preventing ankle sprains vs. ankles without protective taping.⁴

In addition, taping can assist in preventing ankle sprain injuries by assisting with proprioception. Heit, Lephart & Rozzi assessed the proprioceptive effects of ankle taping of 26 subjects by evaluating ankle joint position sense.⁵ This study demonstrates that ankle taping improves joint position sense in the stable ankle. Robbins, Waked, & Rappel studied 24 healthy subjects and the effects of taping on foot position awareness.⁶ This study suggests ankle taping improves proprioception before and after exercise.

Pros and Cons of Ankle Braces

Like taping, ankle braces also offer advantages. First, athletes can reuse the brace each time they participate in an activity. In the long run, this is a financial advantage.

Second, athletes can apply the ankle brace themselves after they've been properly instructed on doing so. Third, ankle braces restrict the range of motion for a longer period than taping.² And fourth, a study has shown that ankle braces do a better job of preventing or reducing the recurrence of ankle sprains.⁷

Other studies have looked at the effects of prophylactic braces and tape on an inversion moment force applied to the ankle. Many of the braces helped resist inversion at a level comparable with or exceeding the capability of the freshly applied tape. Braces that were not as effective as the tape could be readjusted and their effectiveness restored.³

Taping and bracing have positives and negatives, but do they impede athletic performance? In a study that looked at both taping and bracing on athletic performance, taping only had a minimal negative effect on physical activities, such as vertical jump, shuttle run and a 200 meter run in comparison to ankle bracing and a control group.⁸ This indicates that taping and bracing wouldn't interfere with the athlete's performance.

Another study conducted by Verbrugge compared the effects of taping vs. bracing on 26 male athletes during an agility run, a 40 yard dash and a vertical jump.⁹ Their study suggests that bracing and taping don't impede athletic performance.

As we mentioned earlier, the decision to tape vs. brace is one of the most debated issues in sports medicine. Many of the articles commonly referred to as "definitive treatment" are merely descriptive observations gathered from empirical observation and from what we experienced as athletes ourselves.

After a lateral ankle sprain, we brand a person as having an increased risk of reoccurrence. Why? Are we sufficiently looking at issues, such as altered hip muscle recruitment patterns? Are we placing athletes in "crutches" for prolonged periods, inhibiting their ability to interact in complex environments that require efficient patterns of neuromuscular control?

If we, as clinicians, knew the best way to do something, then we'd all follow the same approach. We must carefully review the literature, listen to those who require intervention and be willing to change when we need to."

I also found this step by step instructions with pictures for taping an ankle, and also this one for taping for plantar fasciitis.

I hope this is helpful. I will also be posting more information on training and injury prevention both on here and on our Team Cowboy site. Let me know if there is specific areas you would like me to focus on.