The Effect of Ankle Taping on Reactive Agility Performance in Male Rugby

Abstract

Introduction: Ankle injuries are common in Rugby Union, especially injuries to the lateral ligament complex, and there are numerous methods of ankle injury prevention that are used. Taping is often used to prevent lateral ankle sprains due to the suggested effect that it decreases the range of movement at the joint, increases stability and increases proprioception. Objective: To explore the effects that taping has on reactive agility performance. Participants: 12 male university level Rugby Union players volunteered from Cardiff Metropolitan University. Methods: Participants were taken through a standardised warm up, and were tested using the Y reactive agility test and a mean time using three separate runs was used as the base line measure. Participants were called back seven days later and the Gibney closed basket weave with heel locks and figure eights was applied to the dominant ankle of each participant, after the warm up was completed. Participants were then tested another three times using the Y reactive agility test and a mean time was recorded. Results: The results of the study showed that there was no significant difference in performance between the un-taped and taped conditions (P>0.05). Conclusion: Using the Gibney closed basket weave with heel locks and figure eights has no significant effect on reactive agility performance in male Rugby Union players.