ankle sprains are the most common musculoskeletal injuries1 , and athletes with excessive movement and activities are the most 
 common victims .
soccer players perform many running , jumping , and turning movements , and 
 these movements cause excessive range of motion at the ankle joint .
this excessive motion 
 range is the most likely cause of ankle sprain in soccer players2 .
a person with an acute ankle sprain has functional limitations due to severe pain , a 
 limited range of motion , and increased instability of the ankle .
many treatments are available for ankle sprain depending on the severity of the injury , but 
 the rices method in the acute phase is the most representative one4 .
after such a treatment process is applied in the acute phase , the functional movement of the 
 ankle is improved through treatments including electrostimulation , ultrasound therapy , and 
 manual therapy5 .
the taping method is 
 frequently used to prevent ankle sprain in athletes , and is widely used for therapeutic 
 purposes . according to lee et al.6 applied to young 
 soccer players with functionally instable ankle , kinesiology taping method increase dynamic 
 balance ability .
hong et al.7 reported 
 that application of kinesiology taping to a football player with injury is an effective 
 adjunct therapy .
this study evaluates the effect of ankle balance taping on dynamic and static balance of 
 soccer players with acute ankle sprain .
sixteen subjects were recruited and all met the inclusion criteria for study procedure . 
 subjects were recruited from a high school soccer team , after providing informed , written 
 consent . written informed consent according to the ethical standards of the declaration of 
 helsinki was provided by all subjects prior to participation , and all agree to participate 
 in this study .
the mean age of the participants was 17.6  0.7  years , height was 175.1  
 5.2  cm , weight was 77.2  9.1  kg , bmi was 25.0  1.7 , cait score was 10.8  4.1 , and days 
 since onset 8.2  3.2 days .
the enrollment criteria applied were as follows : ( 1 ) suffered 
 ankle sprain within one month , ( 2 ) cumberland ankle instability tool ( cait ) score 
 < 248 , ( 3 ) not participating in any 
 ankle treatment program , ( 4 ) no muscular - skeletal disorder and other severe lower extremity 
 injury , ( 5 ) no history of ankle fracture and ankle surgery , ( 6 ) no ankle edema , ( 7 ) no 
 history of neurological disease , vestibular or visual disturbance , or any other pathology , 
 ( 8) no taping side effects such as skin redness . a cross - over randomized design was used .
subjects were randomly assigned to a taping , placebo taping , and no taping . 

subject characteristics and all outcome measures obtained before and after treatment were 
 assessed by physician 1 , who was blinded to treatment allocations .
intervention was 
 performed in a closed room by physician 2 , who was not involved in subject assessment .
both 
 physicians were instructed not to communicate with subjects about study goals or 
 treatments .
the patient is seated in a comfortable position on a table that is high enough 
 to prevent the feet from touching the ground , while the therapist applies the tape on the 
 damaged ankle stretched with a tension of 3040%9 .
the first stage is posterior talar gliding taping to increase the 
 dorsiflexion of the ankle .
since the patients have a 
 disability in the inversion of feet due to lateral ankle sprain , taping is done twice to 
 reinforce the inversion of ankle through eversion taping application .
the fourth stage 
 applies the posterior talar gliding taping conducted in the first stage twice .
the first stage begins from the inner malleolus , and it is applied 
 up to the inner middle point of the pelvic limb .
the second stage begins from the outer 
 malleolus up to the outer middle point of the pelvic limb .
for postural adjustment ability , center of pressure ( cop ) was measured using biorescue ( rm 
 ingenierie , rodes , france ) .
the elements measured included the sway length and sway speed to 
 evaluate the static balance ability ; low value indicated good balance ability .
also , the 
 element measured included the limit of stability ( los ) to evaluate the dynamic balance 
 ability ; high value indicated good balance ability .
limit of stability ( los ) , sway length , 
 and sway speed were measured for one minute .
general characteristics were 
 analyzed using descriptive statistics and results are reported as means and standard 
 deviations .
one - way repeated anova was used for the group analysis , and the post - hoc tukey 
 test was used to correct for multiple comparisons .
null hypotheses of no difference were 
 rejected if p - values were less than 0.05 .
abt showed significantly difference of limit of stability , sway length , and sway speed than 
 nt and pt ( p<0.05 ) ( table 
 1table 
 1.comparison of the limit of stability ( los ) , sway length , 
 sway speed among the three conditions ( n=16)mean  sdpost - hocntptabtlos ( mm)5,943.0  3,565.86,304.7  3,516.88,537.0  3,472.4abt > pt 

abt > ntsway length ( cm)31.8  
 9.629.3  7.722.7  5.8abt > pt abt > ntsway 
 speed ( cm / s)0.5  0.10.4  0.10.3  0.1abt > pt 
 abt > ntnt : no taping ; pt : placebo 
 taping ; abt : ankle balance taping ) .
nt : no taping ; pt : placebo 
 taping ; abt : ankle balance taping
this study investigated the effect of ankle balance taping on the improvement of balance 
 ability of soccer players with acute ankle sprains . after applying ankle balance taping , 
 sway length and sway speed ( measures of static balance ) , and limits of stability ( los ) ( a 
 measure of dynamic balance ) , improved significantly compared to the other two interventions 
 ( placebo taping and no taping ) .
nicole et al.11 reported that kinesiology taping reduced chronic low back pain 
 ( clbp ) .
lee et al.12 reported that the 
 kinesiology taping badminton players with achilles tendon pain reduced achilles tendon pain . 

fouladi et al.13 proposed that dynamic posture stability is 
 improved if kinesiology taping is applied to the foot .
first , the small sample size may have influenced 
 certain variables and influenced the results .
therefore , these results can not be generalized 
 to all subjects who have ankle instability .
second , the current experiment is a crossover 
 design , which makes it difficult to observe the learning effect of taping .
further studies , including a long - term follow - up assessment , are needed to evaluate the 
 long - term benefits of balance taping . in conclusion ,
the application of ankle balance taping 
 that uses kinesiology tape instantly increased the dynamic and static balance ability of 
 soccer player with an ankle sprain .
therefore abt can be a useful alternative to prevent and 
 treat ankle sprain of soccer players .
 [ purpose ] this study aimed to evaluate the immediate effect of ankle balance taping on 
 balance ability of soccer players with acute ankle sprain . [ subjects and methods ] this 
 study 
 was conducted with 16 subjects who were diagnosed with ankle sprain . a cross - over 
 randomized design was used . 
 each subject performed three interventions in a random order . 
 
 subjects were randomly assigned to an ankle balance taping , placebo taping , and no taping . 
 for dynamic and static balance , ability was measured using biorescue ( rm ingenierie , 
 rodes , france ) . 
 limit of stability , sway length and sway speed for one minute were 
 measured . 
 [ results ] the limit of stability , sway length and sway speed differed 
 significantly among the three different taping methods . [ conclusion ] in this study , we 
 found that ankle balance taping was effective in terms of improving balance ability of 
 soccer players with an ankle sprain . 
INTRODUCTION
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION