| dc.description.abstract | Ankle braces are commonly worn in the athletic community both as a method of
rehabilitation after sustaining an ankle injury, and prophylactically to prevent an injury. Within
court sports such as volleyball, athletes are at a heightened risk of sustaining common and
reoccurring ankle injuries. Research on how ankle braces affect athletic performance variables
such as vertical jump height and agility speed has mixed results, with some studies reporting no
change in performance, while others reporting reductions in performance. With studies citing
factors such as ankle range of motion, muscle activation, and changes in lower body kinematics
as the cause for changes in athletic performance, more research is needed to fully understand this
relationship between bracing and performance. Additionally, differences between sexes has been
proposed on some of these identified factors. Also, it has been shown that after sustaining an
injury, athletes generally experience higher levels of anxiety when returning to sport
participation, with female athletes showing even greater levels of anxiety than males. It has also
been suggested that while using supportive ankle devices, such as athletic tape or ankle braces,
during rehabilitation, athletes then depend on these devices for psychological support even after
their injury has fully healed. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of
bilateral soft-shell ankle bracing and sex on swing block vertical jump height, normalized ground
reaction force (GRF) in the Z-plane, agility time, and measures of sport related anxiety as
measured by the Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2). [...] | en_US |
