Immediate effects of Mulligan's fibular repositioning taping on postural control in athletes with and without chronic ankle instability

Objective: To determine whether fibular repositioning tape influenced the postural control performance in athletes with and without chronic ankle instability (CAI). Setting: Research laboratory. Design: A cross-sectional study, within subjects experimental study design between 4 ankle conditions (taped and untaped: CAI and healthy athletes). Participants: Sixteen volunteer professional athletes with unilateral CAI (10 men and 6 women; age 23.2 +/- 3 y, height 175.4 +/- 103 cm, and weight 73 +/- 14.5 kg) and sixteen volunteer healthy professional athletes (10 men and 6 women; age 22.8 +/- 1.7 y, height 173.6 +/- 12.2 cm, and weight 66.4 +/- 11.4 kg). Interventions: Fibular repositioning taping (FRT). Main outcome measurements: Star excursion balance test (postural control) in anteromedial (AM), medial (M), and posteromedial (PM) directions were measured for the both group in two conditions: tape and untape. Results: FRT improved significantly postural control (M, AM and PM) in both groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: We observed that FRT can significantly improve postural control in athletes with CAI and healthy athletes. Therefore, FRT can be an effective management for athletes who suffer from CAI. Also, this type of taping can apply immediately prior to activity and sport event to increase joint awareness of ankle. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.