The influence of ankel braces on proprioception

Thorwesten L, Fromme A, Bischoff M, Reer R, Jerosch J,

Research article in edited proceedings (conference)

Abstract

Both ankle joints of 14 volunteers without any injury of the ankles and 16 patients with unstable ankle joints (age: 23.9 ± 2.83 years) were tested regarding their proprioceptive capabilities. Three tests were used for the study: single-leg stance test, single-leg jumping course test, angle-reproduction test. The influence of three stabilization devices ("Mikros"-, "Aircast"-braces, taping) an the proprioceptivity of stable and unstable ankle joints were evaluated. The score of the single-leg jumping course test without any stabilizing device (standard) was 10.65 ± 1.29. In the categories "Mikros" (9.85 ± 0.99) and "Aircast" (9.99 ± 1.14) as weU as with the tape bandage (10.27 ± 0.81) the tested persons achieved better scores. In general, the scores with braces were better compared to the category "standard". The error rate in the sing)e-leg stance test was 5.12 ± 2.85 for the category "standard", 3.65 ± 2.65 for the categories "Mikros", 4.17 ± 2.59 for "Aircast" and 5.79 ± 3.53 for-the tape bandage. The differences "standard vs. Mikros" as well as "standard vs. Aircast" were significant. There was also a significant difference between these categories reg;irding injured and not-injured ankle joints. The angle­ reproduction-test showed higber values for the category "standard" (2.36° ± 0. 97°) in comparison to the categories "Mikros" (1.46° ± 0.72°), "Aircast" (l.62° ± 0.91°) and "taping" (l.84°±0.41°). In the category "standard" the reproduction error was lower for the not-injured ankle joints tban for tbe unstable anlde joints, whereas in all other categories the reproduction error was higber in the group of not-injured joints. The results of the three tests sbowed a highly significant difference between injured and oot-injured ankle joints. A posttraumatic deficit in proprioception as a consequence of injuries of the ankle joints is frequently evident and can be considered as one of the reasans for the functional instability of ankle joints. The tested ankle braces improve the proprioception ofboth the injured and the not-injured ankle joint. The tape bandage, however, does not seem to have any significant impact oo the proprioception in our setup.

Details zur Publikation

Release year: 1995
Language in which the publication is written: English