The Effects of Medical Flossing on Static and Dynamic Balance in an Athletic Population Randomized Controlled Experimental Trial

Improving athletic performance and reducing the incidence of lower limb injuries is of major importance for athletes and their support staff. Therefore, balance control, especially ankle proprioception, plays an undeniable role. Medical flossing could provide a temporal increase in balance control based on its theoretical biomechanical mechanisms. However, the research around possible influences of flossing on balance control are scarce. The current study examines the immediate effects of ankle flossing in combination with a weight-bearing full range of motion exercise on static and dynamic single-leg balance. Forty healthy sport science students (age 22.12 +/- 3.04) were randomly assigned to an intervention group and a control group. Both groups performed 3 sets of 10 elevated single leg calf raises. The intervention group had their ankle flossed during the exercise. The pre- and post-tests consisted of 4 balance tasks with different surfaces (stable, unstable) and movements (static, dynamic). The main dependent variable was the standard deviation of the center of pressure in anterior-posterior and medio-lateral directions measured by a force plate. The results indicated no significant difference in balance control for either group regarding the static balance tasks. However, both groups performed the dynamic tasks in the anteriorposterior direction superiorly during the post-test. The medio-lateral direction of the dynamic tasks provided a significant decrease (p = 0.044) in balance control for the intervention group regarding the ground*group interaction. The results of this study suggest that a single flossing application does not increase single-leg balance in healthy sport science students. Furthermore, a decrease in balance control was noted for the medio-lateral direction.