Comparative Study of Diverse Ankle Supports and Related Effects on Functional Performance
Open Access
- Author:
- Mcfadden, Megan Elizabeth
- Area of Honors:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- William E Buckley, Thesis Supervisor
Jinger S. Gottschall, Thesis Honors Advisor
Giampietro Luciano Vairo, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- DonJoy
Pro Taco
ankle supports
functional performance
agility
single leg jump
cross over hop. - Abstract:
- COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIVERSE ANKLE SUPPORTS AND RELATED EFFECTS ON FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE McFadden ME, Buckley WE, Vairo GL: Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Research Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, University Park PA Objective: To compare the effects of diverse external ankle supports on functional performance measures in university club-level volleyball players. This research study examined the effects of a traditional lace-up brace and contemporary proprioceptive enhancing ankle support across three functional performance measures. It was hypothesized that the support conditions would have no effect on crossover hop for distance performance and that support conditions would decrease performance on single leg vertical jump height and modified agility t-tests when compared to the control, no brace condition. Design and Setting: Ankle support condition served as the independent variable. Dependent variables were functional performance measures, which included the crossover hop for distance, single leg vertical jump height, and modified agility t-test for time. Participants served as their own control and were tested across all three ankle support (none, traditional, contemporary) conditions for the dominant leg. The order of testing conditions was randomized to prevent an order effect. Forty-eight hours separated each testing session. All testing took place in a controlled laboratory. Participants: Eighteen (9 men, 9 women) healthy participants (age= 20.1 ± 1.95 years, height = 1.82 ± 0.132 m, mass = 76.9 ± 16.8 kg) from a University’s men’s and women’s club volleyball teams enrolled in the research study. Measurements: Crossover hop for distance (cm); Single leg vertical jump height (cm), as measured by the Sargent Jump Test; Agility, as measured by the modified agility t-test (s). A one-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s Honestly Significant Difference post hoc test was calculated to determine statistically significant differences among the ankle support conditions. P < 0.05 denoted statistical significance. Results: No statistically significant differences existed among ankle support conditions for the crossover hop for distance (P= 0.924), the single leg vertical jump height (P= 0.650) and the modified agility t-test (P= 0.866) performance measurements. Conclusion: External ankle supports do not affect functional performance outcome measures in university club-level volleyball players compared to a control condition. Furthermore, the traditional and contemporary ankle support outcomes were comparable. Thus, it can be surmised that ankle supports do not improve or hinder functional performance. Word Count: 345