Evaluation of two ankle appliances using ground reaction force data

The purpose of this study was to evaluate, using ground reaction force data, two ankle stabilizing techniques commonly used by athletic trainers; the closed Gibney taping procedure and the boot type ankle stabilizer. Each condition was examined in a pre- and postexercise bout. In addition, a no appliance condition was also tested. Eight healthy female athletes were required to perform ten satisfactory trials in each of the five conditions. Ten trial mean values of 34 descriptors of ground reaction force components for each subject/condition were evaluated using multivariate analyses of variance. No significant differences in any of the force or impulse variables were found across conditions. However, significant differences were found in three variables describing the relative timing of events in the footfall (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between the pre- and postexercise conditions. The variability in the measured parameters. of the no appliance condition was consistently higher than the ankle appliance conditions. The implication of the study was that, in normal running, the ankle appliances did not appear to moderate or change foot function. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1986;7(5):244-249.