TITLE: Ankle Taping Improves Proprioception Before and After Exercise in Young Men 1995-2.pdfAccessible Summary: Purpose: The above developments regarding the sense of position and orientation of the plantar surface relative to support surface (foot position awareness) had obvious application to the most common injury in sports - the ankle sprain. Many had speculated that the ankle sprain may be related to proprioceptive problems, but proprioception was never defined objectively and tested. No one had ever considered that footwear influence proprioceptive sense at the ankle. Also, interventions to prevent ankle sprains such as taping were never examined objectively in terms of proprioception. Synopsis: The effect of ankle taping was examined before and after exercise in young men in a system whereby they were asked to estimate support surface slope according to a ratio scale. Standard ankle taping was performed prior to the exercise session to a random sample of subjects. Significance: This report was the first to show that ankle taping improved foot position sense before and after exercise when wearing footwear, but but this sense was always better when barefoot. The conclusion was that ankle taping partly corrected the loss of foot position awareness caused by footwear. Traction of the tape on the hairy skin of the leg gave subjects a sensory cue especially when ankle angle was acute. This report suggested the risk of ankle spraining when barefoot should be extremely low. It also indicated that when wearing shoes foot position awareness declines as exercise increases, which may explain while ankle sprains are more common late in exercise sessions. |
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