| dc.description.abstract | As athletes, volleyball players strive for optimal performance while avoiding the
incidence of injury. Ankle braces, which are most commonly used by volleyball players to
minimize the risk of injury are the Ankle Stabilizing Orthosis© EVO (ASO) lace up and Active
Ankle© T2 (T2) rigid braces. Volleyball players wear ankle braces either unilaterally or
bilaterally, but there no previous research has evaluated this comparison. It has been reported
that ankle braces reduce the risk of initial and recurring injury, however, the impact that wearing
ankle braces has on vertical jump height and agility time is inconclusive. The purpose of this
study was to evaluate the impact that unilateral and bilateral ankle bracing has on kinetic and
kinematic measures while wearing the ASO and T2 ankle braces. Competitive female and male
volleyball players (n=22) from Lakehead University and Thunder Bay Competitive Volleyball
League were recruited. Each participant attended two sessions; the first test day included either
the vertical jump test or the agility T-test and the second test day included whichever test they
did not complete the first session. During the each of these two testing sessions, the participants
completed testing trials while wearing the ASO and T2 braces, unilaterally (UNI) and bilaterally
(BI), as well as unbraced (UB). The 2D-kinematic analysis system recorded peak joint angles at
the hip, knee, and ankle, while ground reaction forces (GRF) were collected with an Advanced
Mechanical Technologies Incorporated® (AMTI) force platform. Vertical jump height was
assessed utilizing the VertecTM apparatus and agility times were measured using a Brower timing
system. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and repeated measures ANOVAs. [...] | en_US |
