Date of Award

Spring 8-1-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Athletic Training

First Advisor

Mitchell Cordova

Second Advisor

Brucker

Third Advisor

Storsved

Abstract

Objective: The effect of prophylactic ankle bracing on functional performance and isolated joint torque has been well studied. However, the potential effect of external 111 ankle support on force production during a sport-specific task remains unknown. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the potential effects of two widely used prophylactic ankle braces on lower extremity force development while performing a onelegged vertical jump. Design and Setting: A 1 x 3 factorial was used in this study. The single independent variable was ankle brace with 3 levels: 1) Semi-rigid ankle brace; 2) Lace-up style brace; and 3) control (no brace). The dependent variables of interest were time to peak vertical ground reaction force (TPVGRF), normalized peak vertical ground reaction force (PVGRF), and vertical ground reaction force slope (VGRFS). Data were collected in the Biomechanics Laboratory at Indiana State University. Subjects: Sixteen, apparently healthy males (age= 25.4±3.6 years, ht= 177.2±2.9 cm, mass= 86.5±16.3 kg) with no history oflower extremity injury 12 months prior to the study participated. Measurements: All subjects were acclimated to each ankle brace prior to any testing. All subjects completed each ankle brace COI)dition according to a counterbalanced design. The dominant extremity of all subjects performed one-legged vertical jumps without arm movement on a piezoelectric force platform (sampling set at 500Hz) interfaced to a controlling laptop computer. Specialized computer software was used to determine the TPVGRF, PVGRF, and VGRFS from the resulting ground reaction force time-history curves. A one-way repeated measures MANOV A was used to detect differences across ankle brace on the linear combination of the dependent variables. Results: There was no overall multivariate effect of ankle brace on the linear combination of PVGRF, TPVGRF and VGRFS (F6.6o = .613, P= .717). When considered univariately, external ankle support did not affect PVGRF (F 2,32 =.647, P =.530), TPVGRF (F2,32 = .937, P =.402), and VGRFS (F2,32) = .427, P = .656). Conclusions: Prophylactic ankle bracing not alter kinetic variables associated with lower extremity force production during a functional task. These findings further support evidence that external ankle support does not hinder functional strength production.

Download

Share

COinS