Accessible Summary:

Purpose:  To present an understanding of th cause and possible prevention of ankle sprains - the most common injury in sports, according to developments regarding low sensory feedback while wearing footwear, reliance on muscle receptors in making foot position judgments while wearing footwear and influence of footwear of position awareness.  Preventive measures are discussed including ankle taping and footwear that provide better foot position sense though reduction of oscillatory medial-lateral movement.  

Synopsis: In this paper the previous work regarding plantar sensation and foot position awareness is applied to ankle sprains.  It indicates that ankle sprain would be uncommon on surfaces that provide plantar tactile feedback of position and orientation of the plantar surface, such as the bare foot and naturally deposited ground.  In footwear, tactile sensations are minimal and humans rely on muscle receptors for foot position judgments.  This proprioceptive sense declines due to oscillatory movements caused by footwear with high resiliency.  Ankle taping reduces the risk of ankle sprain through providing tactile information of plantar position and orientation through traction of the skin of the leg.  A better solution would be footwear that provides plantar tactile feedback - a solution that seems currently impossible.  An available solution is footwear that minimize oscillatory foot movement through the use of low resiliency material.