Sprain and Strain of Ankle Clinical Trial
Official title:
Effect of Kinesiotaping on Ankle Stability in a Population of Elite Basketball Players
Ankles sprains are the most popular injuries in basketball players. They are traumatic
injuries, which happen most of the time in specific situations, like landing on another
player's foot, or during changes of direction.
Neuromuscular exercises are very important to improve ankle stability and reduce risks of
sprains. However various external support such as ankles braces and rigid tape, are also used
in order to prevent injury.
The kinesiotape (KT) is a new but broadly used method in the world of athletes. Created by
KenzoKase, in 1980, this kind of tape has a tremendous success with athletes and is today
commonly used during practices and/or competitions. The main property of this tape is its
elasticity, which is supposed to improve proprioception and, thus ankle stability, but these
aspects have not been investigated yet.
Aim: Compare the effects of a kinesiotape (KT) with a sham treatment (KT put with no effects)
and a control condition (absence of tape) in basketball players from the Swiss national
league through balance tests on an unstable surface.
Hypotheses: A KT positioned on the lateral side of the leg improves ankle stability in
basketball players while balancing on an unstable surface.
Method: 30 subjects will be recruited from different basketball teams affiliated to the Swiss
national league. They will have to perform some postural stability tests on both unstable
("Delos") and stable surfaces ("Single Les Stance", "Star Excursion Balance Test", "Cross
Over Hop Test for Distance") under three different conditions. The three condition will be as
followed : with a KT positioned on the lateral side of the leg, with a sham tape or without
tape. The three sessions will be spaced in time (7 days of wash out). The order of the three
interventions (KT, Sham tape, no tape) will be randomized (cross over) to avoid the bias of
learning processes. Neither the subjects nor the examiner will be aware of the "tape
condition" (double blind); a physiotherapist will be in charge of positioning the tape
according to the tested condition.
The sequence of the tests will be the same for all subjects and breaks are scheduled to avoid
the effect of the fatigue. An anamnesis of all subjects will be done in order to evaluate
history of injuries. At the end of each session, a visual analogical scale will be completed
by the athlete to obtain a personal feeling of stability . The subject will be also asked to
determine which condition was tested.
Expected results: the application of a KT on the lateral side of the leg improves postural
stability on instable surfaces in elite basketball players.
Field's importance: the application of KT may reduce the risk of ankle sprains and the
recurrence of sprains in a population of athletes at risk.
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