The Effect of Ankle Taping on the Ability to Maintain Static and Dynamic Balances ‎with and without Visual Input Before and After Fatigue

Improving postural control is essential as a basic functional ability to perform daily life activities. Muscle fatigue disrupts information received from sensory input to the brain, affects postural control, and reduces balance. Regarding the fundamental role of the foot as the principal point of contact between land and body, any external intervention that affecting the foot can therefore affect the balance. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the immediate effect of ankle taping on the ability to maintain static and dynamic balances with and without visual input before and after fatigue.

The statistical population of the present study was female colleague students of Bu-Ali Sina University. 20 female volunteers were enrolled in this study as a study population according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Criteria for inclusion in the study were: the right foot was the dominant foot, no obvious deformities in the lower extremities and normal navicular height. The interventions used in the present study included the application of Kinesiotape by basket weave method in the ankle and the creation of fatigue by the Bruce fatigue protocol. The static and dynamic balance of the subjects before and after taping with and without visual information were examined before and after fatigue using a Biodex balance system. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA test (p<0.05) using SPSS software.

The effect of time (with and without fatigue) and condition (with and without Kinesiotape) was not significant in any of the studied variables (p≥0.05). Also, the interaction of time and position in improving static balance in open eye (p=0.13) and closed eye (p=0.297) and dynamic balance (p = 0.738) before and after fatigue protocol did not showed a significant difference.

According to the results, ankle taping before and after the application of fatigue protocol in healthy individuals did not lead to improved static and dynamic balance. It seems that more studies are needed to show whether taping increases the ability to control the posture or it is more of a placebo role.