Attitudes and practices of Australian healthcare and sports workers on the use of ankle supports for management and prevention of lateral ankle sprains: A cross-sectional survey

Objective: Explore attitudes and practices of Australian professionals using ankle taping or bracing for the management and prevention of lateral ankle sprains. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Anonymous online survey. Participants: Australian healthcare or athletic workers, registered with an official governing body, involved in the management and/or prevention of lateral ankle sprains. Main outcome measures: Quantitative data was collected from 20 close-ended questions. Qualitative data from 14 open-ended questions were categorized into topics using inductive thematic analysis. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and presented in figures and tabular format. Results: A total 160 respondents answered the survey; the majority were podiatrists (42.5%), physiotherapists (23%), or sports/athletic trainers (13.8%). Ankle supports were overwhelmingly recommended and considered to be effective in the management (95% and 89% bracing and taping, respectively) and prevention (96% and 92% bracing and taping, respectively) of lateral ankle sprains. For management, semi-rigid brace with straps (26%) and figure eight taping technique (42%) were the most frequently used. For prevention, the most commonly used were soft brace with straps (30%) and the figure eight taping technique (37%). Conclusions: Australian professionals expressed a positive attitude towards using ankle supports in the management and prevention of lateral ankle sprains.