THE EFFECT OF TAPING ON MOTION AND PLANTAR

PRESSURE DURING ANKLE INVERSION

Jun Akazawa, Takaharu Ikeuchi, Takemasa Okamoto

Meiji University of Integrative Medicine, Honoda, Hiyoshi-cho, Nantan-shi, Kyoto,Japan

Ryuhei Okuno

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Setsunan University, Japan

Keywords: Plantar pressure, Motion analysis, Ankle sprain, Taping.

Abstract: In the field of the sports science and the clinical medicine，taping of ankle joint has been often applied to

prevent the injury of ankle sprain by fixing the ankle joint tightly. While the motion of ankle joint would be

limited and changed with taping, there are quite a few reports about the change. In order to clarify effects of

the taping and to examine characteristics of the ankle taping, we had constructed a system to measure the

distance between the metatarsus first head and the floor with a 3D motion analysis system, and to measure

planter pressure pattern during the ankle inversion with pressure monitoring system. When the subjects were

instructed to ankle inversion as much as possible, obvious differences were found in the distances and

pressure patterns.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the field of the sports science and the clinical

medicine, ankle taping is one of the most common

methods for supporting the chronically unstable

ankle. Not only the medical techniques but also the

engineering science techniques have been associated

with evaluating the ankle inversion mechanism.

There are various reports conserving ankle sprain

occurrence. Focusing on the high rate of ankle sprain

occurrence in athletes, Katherine (2007) investigated

useful information for analyzing the acute and

chronic lateral ankle injuries. Gleen (2009)

investigated methods of evaluating both the injure

and the optimal treatment, and deciding the time

when athlete could return to play. On the other hand,

Willems (2005) had indicated that it is necessary to

pay the special attention to gait patterns and foot

biomechanics for effective prevention and

rehabilitation of subjects at the risk of sprain.

Computer simulations were performed using the

muscle model, to evaluate the mechanism of ankle

sprain and the relationship between ankle sprain

occurrence and foot position at touch-down phase

(Wright, 2000). In addition, Chung-Li Wang,

(1995) investigated how foot position and ankle

arthrodesis could affect the characteristic of subtalar

joint by measuring the pleasure of this joint in

specimens of amputated lower legs. Moreover, the

supination of ankle is associated with joint motion of

three planes. Yue-Yan (2008) had examined the

experiments where subjects were instructed to

performed simulated ankle sprain trials with five

different degree of ankle joint angle. In the index for

injure prevention and rehabilitation of ankle sprain,

Wei-Hsiu Lin (2009) studied the comparison of

unilateral eversion to inversion strength ratio. On the

other hand, Patrick J. (2007) examined the idea that

the strain of the peroneal nerve caused by nerve

traction is sufficient to cause nerve injure, with

increasing the weight of anterior talofibular ligament.

With respect to ankle taping, the scientific

evidence of taping in the preventation of injure to

the lateral ligament ankle was studied with interview

of any number of athletes (Firer, 1990). The taping

effect during the gait phase was tested using both

insole plantar pressure and 3-D motion analysis

(Kieran, 2008). On the other hand, anecdotal reports

suggested a role of the belief among athletes that

taping will protect from injury, so there is a study to

determine whether there was a placebo effect with

ankle taping in individuals with ankle instability

(Kate, 2007).

318

Akazawa J., Ikeuchi T., Okamoto T. and Okuno R. (2010).

THE EFFECT OF TAPING ON MOTION AND PLANTAR PRESSURE DURING ANKLE INVERSION.

In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Bio-inspired Systems and Signal Processing, pages 318-321

DOI: 10.5220/0002752503180321

 SciTePress

Although ankle taping is effective in the

prevention of ankle injuries, the characteristic of

ankle taping have not been fully understood, in

particular, by considering the distance between the

metatarsus first head and the floor as well as the

planter pressure during the ankle inversion. It is

necessary to measure these items for investigating

quantitatively the effectiveness of ankle taping.

In the present study, we focus on the condition or

the physical state of causing the sprain easily,

considering the possibility that the taping could play

the role of taking the place of the ligament. We

construct a system to measure the distance between

the metatarsus first head and the floor with a 3D

motion analysis system, and to measure planter

pressure pattern during the ankle inversion with

pressure monitoring system.

2 METHOD

A convenience sample of 3 healthy subjects

volunteered to participate in this study. Subjects

with an adverse skin reaction, with a lower limb

injury in the past six months, or who were unable to

walk pain free were excluded. Taping was applied

only to the right foot of each subject. The subjects

were instructed to expand the foot at the breadth of

their shoulders level in standing position. For

overextending their ankle with inversion of the foot,

their inversion of the foot increased. They had kept

their ankle at the maximum joint angle until the end

of measurement. The measurement time was ten

seconds. The effectiveness of the ankle taping was

examined with the measurement equipment (Fig. 1).

Kinematic data was acquired using a OptoTrack

motion analysis system. This system calculates joint

angles based on skin marker positions. Markers were

positioned on four points (A,B,C,D) in the floor

plane, right and left coracoides (E,F) measuring the

shake of the body, 10 cm under the center of patella

measuring the movement of the knee joint (G), the

middle point of medial malleolus and lateral

malleolus which measured the shake of foot joint

(H), metatarsus-fourth head (J) and metatarsus-first

head which marker measured the varus extent of

foot joint (I). Subjects were instructed to look at a

distant to prevent them from looking down at the

floor. The subject performed 3 cycles with the tape

and 3 cycles without the tape. 3D motion data was

collected at 50 Hz for 10 seconds while the subject

was performing the instructed motion. Data analysis

plantar pressure data was collected and analysed

using Matlab software. The coordinate system in an

optotrack was explained: The direction that moves

from the left to the right is x axis. A vertical

direction to ground is y axis. The direction going

directly to x axis and y axis is z axis. In this system,

motion of the ankle was measured with a motion

analysis, this one calculate the distance between the

light source of OptoTrack and markers. In that case,

if the OptoTrack was located on vertical position to

the ground, the marker was sometimes not

recognized, so the OptoTrack was placed at slope.

Figure 1: Outline of measurement apparatus.

Figure 2: Algorithm of distribution analysis of planter

pressure.

THE EFFECT OF TAPING ON MOTION AND PLANTAR PRESSURE DURING ANKLE INVERSION

319

The BigMat, a computerised sensor system, was

used to measure planter pressure. Planter pressure

data was collected at a frequency of 50 Hz. Figure 2

shows the outline of analytical processing that uses

BigMat. We used Matlab to analyze the planter

pressure. All data of the planter pressure measured

for ten seconds is added. We confirm the anchor of x

axis and y axis by using this added data. We make

the function. This function extracts only the part of

the changing planter pressure by mask processing.

Figure 3 shows this processing. We use this function.

This function outputs the change in planter pressure

distribution and that of planter area. The object is a

side where a reactionary work in foot joint was done.

Figure 3: Analytical processing of planter pressure

distribution.

3 RESULT

Motion of unilateral right ankle is shown in Fig. 4.

The not taped motion of the metatarsus-first head (I)

is shown at Fig. (a). The tapted motion of the

metatarsus-first head (I) is shown at Fig. (b).

In Fig. (a), without using the ankle taping,

increasing the ankle inversion angle causes

increasing the distance from the marker (I) of the

ankle to the plane of the floor. The maximal distance

from the marker point of I to the plane of the floor

(A, B, C, D) is 3.0 cm. In Fig. (b), with using the

ankle taping, increasing the ankle inversion angle

causes small increasing the distance from the marker

(I) of the ankle to the plane of the floor. The

maximal distance from marker point of I to the floor

(A, B, C, D) is only 1.5 cm.

The peak planter pressure on the right ankle is

shown in Fig. 5. About planter pressure distribution

of experimental results without using ankle taping,

increasing the ankle inversion angle caused

Figure 4: The measurement result of the joint angle where

OptoTrack was used.

Figure 5: Change in foot pressure distribution that uses

BigMat.

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decreasing both the pressure and planter area of right

ankle (Fig. (a), (b)). On the other hand, with using

ankle taping, increasing the ankle inversion angle

caused small decreasing the planter area of right

ankle, and the pressure distribution change is too

small (Fig. (c), (d)).

On the experiment of absence and presence of

ankle taping during the motion of ankle inversion,

we could recognize the distinction of planter

pressure distribution and there are little shift of

planter area

4 CONCLUSIONS

In order to examine the taping effect on the ankle

inversion sprain, we developed a method of

measuring both height of the ankle with the 3-D

motion analysis system and planter pressure patterns

with the pressure sensing mat. We showed that the

distance between the ankle and the floor in

maximum voluntary ankle inversion varied from

non-taping to taping; the distance was approximately

3.0 cm in the absence of the ankle taping, and 1.5

cm in the presence of taping. On the experiment of

absence and presence of ankle taping during the

motion of ankle inversion, we could recognize the

distinction of planter pressure distribution and there

are little shift of planter area

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