wjk1214
Freshmen Member
Do your absolute best in everything you do and success will follow!
Posts: 26
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Post by wjk1214 on Jul 13, 2009 20:42:09 GMT -6
While attending a Coaches Clinic I attended a Sports Medicine Session and the speaker inform the audiance that once a ankle is taped the support it provides only lasts 20 minutes. Has anyone heard or know the lifespan of the ankle brace before it starts losing it's effectiveness? Are Ankle Braces the way to go? With School Budgets being cut, and the cost of tape and prewrap, I'm thinking that it would be "cost effective" to have the players get ankle braces. This would greatly reduce the cost to the Sports Medicine Budget. Plus our county has a purchasing freeze on until further notice. Lucky that I have a decent supplies for this season. The only negative thing I can think of are players who could not afford the cost of a brace, which is a important to take into account! What are your thoughts?
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Post by alneufeld on Jul 13, 2009 21:51:30 GMT -6
That's relatively true. The cloth and weave in the tape stretches and loosens up to where its only about 30-60% effective over the course of a game. Braces are much more effective and can last about one season of daily use. But, the downside is that with the braces you lose some flexibility. I find that the braces are really good for linemen and maybe linebackers. Not really preferred by the speed guys.
As an alternative to tape, look at the the ankle strapping from Cramer. You can buy it in bulk rolls and the speed guys like it because its lighter than braces, but gives longer lasting support than tape. Also, with a little practice, the players can wrap themselves.
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Post by mariner42 on Jul 13, 2009 23:28:53 GMT -6
Agreed regarding the cost effectiveness angle. It's something we're going to encourage as a program, since we're almost certainly going to be without funding for tape/etc.
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Post by coachbdud on Jul 13, 2009 23:31:18 GMT -6
most of our kids get their own ankle braces as preventative measure. We will tape some kids before and during games for on the spot or nagging injuries
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Post by michwags19 on Jul 14, 2009 6:46:18 GMT -6
During some of my biomechanics and anatomy/physiology classes in college a few years ago, we did a ton of research on ankle braces, tape, and high tops. What we came up with, and was backed by many medical journals and doctors, was for the best support, an athlete should wear low top cleats with an ankle brace.
Their reasoning is that tape does in fact lose it's effectiveness after about 15-20 minutes and braces loosen up after about the same amount of time. However, an athlete who is wearing low top shoes can simply re-tighten the brace without having to un-tie and then tie his high top shoes.
Bottom Line....best ankle support is a brace with low tops.
We also performed a study as to whether high tops restrict movement/support the ankle and our results showed that they did nothing. Obviously, our study was just performed by some college students, but research does support.
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Jul 14, 2009 6:50:07 GMT -6
Thanks for the info.
What brand ankle brace is the best?
OJW
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Post by michwags19 on Jul 14, 2009 19:03:10 GMT -6
I would say any brace that fits tightly and can be tied with a low top cleat would work best. The idea is that the athlete can re-tighten the brace without having to tie/untie the cleat.
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Jul 14, 2009 20:42:31 GMT -6
Never thought about this, just been taping ankles forever,
please tell me more.
OJW
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wjk1214
Freshmen Member
Do your absolute best in everything you do and success will follow!
Posts: 26
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Post by wjk1214 on Jul 14, 2009 22:26:41 GMT -6
michwags19...Excellent information...I never considered the high top vs low top shoe. Thank you for you research performed (while in college) and passing this important info on. During these difficult economic time with school budgets being cut, this information provides a vital cost effective option.
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Post by mariner42 on Jul 14, 2009 23:12:52 GMT -6
Kudos on the info, dude. Absolutely going to pass that on.
If I may, what was your research process? Could you give a brief explanation/synopsis?
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Post by aztec on Jul 17, 2009 7:38:56 GMT -6
We started using ASO braces about 6 years ago now and they are great. It saves us a ton of money in tape that we don't buy anymore and we can get the braces as low as $21 each. This year all of our kids bought their own as part of our spirit pack. Since going to them we have had 4 ankle injuries that have kept players out of action for longer than 3 days. 2 high ankle sprains, full dislocation with the brace on, and a fracture. Overall they save us time as coaches (normally me) don't have to tape guys or wait in line with the trainer. I order my braces thought this company in Northern California www.orthout.com/ you just need to set up a team account and order in bulk to get the discount. This is the brace that we order. My head coach at the time was resistant to moving to the braces so I called both USC and UCLA and talke to their trainers about them. 99% of their players were in braces. At the time this was Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart at USC. Our HC bought in and now is a firm believer in the braces. |
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Post by michwags19 on Jul 19, 2009 18:26:39 GMT -6
as for my research, we were actually looking at high tops and their impact on range of motion/injury prevention. as part of the process, we did a ton of reading on ankles, injuries, and prevention. Almost everything we read and everyone we talked to said the same about tape and braces that aren't re-tightened during competition. I didn't expect any of that when we started, but it was the overwhelming theme.
I was looking more at high tops because my research partner said he wears high tops b/c he has weak ankles and I said I can't wear them b/c they inhibit my ROM. Neither of us was right.
as for our actual experiment...we took some new high tops into our state of the art lab with i think it was 6 super cameras. this lab had been used for phillies pitchers, kentucky derby horses, and other big time athletes to look at various acpects of their sports. so needless to say, we weren't in some frat house doing this. anyway...we placed a treadmill in the middle of the lab and my partner had to put about 25 of the little sensors all over his body. then he put the high tops on and ran for about 20 minutes on the treadmill. we then graphed all his info and looked at his ROM.
Next, we cut the top of the high tops off to make them low tops. this made sure he had the same foot support in both trials. After another 20 minute run, we found absolutely no difference in his ROM.
I would like to be able to tell you that we actually tested him with and without tape and braces, but that was all the lab time we were given. even though we didn't test it, i am VERY certain, b/c of everything we read, that low tops with a brace is the best overall for support and whatnot. Take it for what you will.
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Post by mariner42 on Jul 19, 2009 20:18:33 GMT -6
Sounds like a pretty cool experiment, thanks for the insight. Funny how research can take you in a completely different direction than you intended, isn't it?
As kind of a follow-up, any truth to the 'belief' that wearing ankle braces too much will affect your ankles strength?
Again, thanks for the info, glad to have something to be able to tell the boys.
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