Effects of Ankle Taping on Single and Double Leg Balance

Abstract

Ankle sprains are a common injury and athletic tape is often applied to help prevent this injury, however, the effects of ankle taping on balance are relatively unclear. Additionally, the dominant and non-dominant legs often have different demands placed upon them and may yield different balance scores. Twenty five healthy participants (18 female, 7 male; age=20.5±1.19 years; mass=69.24±12.72 kg; height=1.69±.087 m) completed double and single leg balance assessments with the eyes open and eyes closed under three ankle support conditions: no ankle tape, PowerTape™, and Coach™ Tape, on the Neurocom Basic BalanceMaster™. Balance assessments were completed before ankle taping (pre-test), immediately after ankle taping (acute-test), and after 20 minutes of walking (post-test). The sway velocity of the participants' center of gravity (deg/s) was the dependent variable. A significant three way interaction was found for the single leg, eyes closed assessment (P = .037), with increased sway velocity for the PowerTape™ and Coach™ tape condition. The non-dominant leg had significantly less sway velocity than the dominant leg for the eyes open condition (P < .001). These results indicate differing affects on balance for different types of athletic tape, and balance differences between the dominant and non-dominant leg, with the non-dominant leg presenting lower sway velocities.