Examining postural control and ankle laxity between different cleat heights in high school football players

Abstract

Context: Lateral ankle sprains are the most common injuries in high school sports. While ankle taping is a preferred method of external prophylactic support, its restrictive properties decline during exercise. The Under Armour® Highlight cleat is marketed on the premise that it provides added support without the need for additional ankle taping. Objective: To determine if differences in ankle joint laxity and postural control exist between football players wearing the Under Armour® Highlight cleat (Baltimore, MD) as compared to a low/mid-top cleat with ankle tape. Design: Crossover trial. Setting: Athletic training room and football practice field sideline. Patients: Thirty-two interscholastic football players (15.8±1.0 yrs.; 178.9±7.4 cm; 87.1±21.4 kg). Interventions: Ankle laxity was assessed using an instrumented ankle arthrometer (Blue Bay Research Inc., Milton, FL), while balance testing was performed on the Tekscan MobileMat™ BESS (South Boston, MA). The two treatments included Under Armour® Highlight cleats and a low/mid-cut cleat with ankle tape applied to the non-dominant ankle only. Measurements were taken before and immediately after practice. Main Outcome Measures: The independent variable was treatment (Highlight vs low/mid with ankle tape). Dependent variables included ankle arthrometry measures of anterior displacement (mm), inversion/eversion rotation (deg); and the MobileMat™ BESS error scores. Single-leg foam and tandem foam stances were not performed. A linear mixed-effects model was used for analysis. Results: The mid/low-cut cleat with tape condition had significantly higher inversion range-of-motion (ROM) and inversion/eversion rotation post-exercise when compared to the Highlight cleat (p<0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study provide some evidence that the Under Armour® Highlight cleat restricts ankle ROM following a training session better than the taped low/mid-cut cleat. Further study is warranted to determine if this high-top style of football cleat can reduce the incidence of ankle sprains and how it might compare to spat taping.