A critical appraisal of "The effect of ankle bracing on knee kinetics and kinematics during volleyball-specific tasks"

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2018-01

Authors

Adkins, Emily

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Abstract

The research question being researched is "For high school and college volleyball players, what is the effect of wearing ankle braces on ACL tears as opposed to not wearing ankle braces?" Out of 3 different search databases, only one article was a good match for the research question. The effect of ankle bracing on knee kinetics and kinematics during volleyball-specific tasks; the study done in Australia was not comprehensive and could have had a multitude of improvements. The study did include volleyball players, ankle braces, and knee injury relations and therefore answered the question. The study only included professional or college athletes and did not include high school players. The study also lacked the forces on the ACL, but did study knee shear forces. Some of the citations listed by the researchers were from the early 1970s and are not recent enough to trust. Other limitations of this study include minimal directions of shear forces on the knee, not enough athletes, and limited outcome measures. No one was blind in the study and every participant underwent the control and variable experiment. In conclusion, there should be further study done in order to understand if ankle braces hurt or help the knee when performing volleyball specific tasks.

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