The Effect of Ankle Brace on Biomechanics of the Lower Extremity During Landing: A Systematic Review and Meta Analysis / 医用生物力学

ABSTRACT

Objective To examine the effects of ankle brace on biomechanics of the lower extremity during landing, so as to provide a theoretic support to choose ankle brace for people with different sports levels. Methods The key words (ankle brace OR ankle braces OR ankle bracing OR ankle support) AND (landing OR land OR jump OR hopped OR hopping) AND (biomechanics OR kinematics OR kinetics OR electromyography OR neuromuscular) in Chinese and English were searched from different electronic databases (CNKI, Web of Science, EBSCO, PubMed and other databases), for a period of Jan. 2000 to Dec. 2020. Cochrane was used to evaluate the quality of eligible studies. For meta analysis, subgroup analysis was used to assess the impact of ankle braces on ankle biomechanics.Results Thirteen studies with a total of 222 participants were included for mata analysis in this study. The semi-rigid ankle brace reduced the peak of ankle inversion by 25.8% compared with the elastic ankle brace (SMD=-0.562, P<0.001). Moreover, the elastic ankle brace reduced ankle plant flexion during landing among athletes (SMD=-3.42, P=-0.021). As for collagiate students, both elastic ankle and semi-rigid ankle decreased the ankle inversion (elastic ankle brace: 35.4%, SMD=-1.000, P=-0.013; semi-rigid ankle brace: 31.11%, SMD=-0.881, P<0.001) and ankle plant flexion (elastic ankle brace:23.30%, SMD=-1.381, P<0.001;semi-rigid ankle brace: 36.33%, SMD=-1.605, P<0.001).Conclusions Both ankle braces can prevent ankle sprain for athletes (basketball, volleyball, running) who experience training more than 5 years. The elastic ankle brace can limit the inversion and plantar flexion, while the semi-rigid ankle brace can merely decrease the ankle inversion. Therefore, athletes are more suitable for the elastic ankle brace. As for collegiate students without training history, both ankle brace can decrease the ankle inversion and plantar flexion. The elastic ankle brace has greater restriction on inversion, while the semi-rigid ankle brace has more restriction on plantar flexion. Therefore, the elastic ankle brace should be utilized if collegiate students have calcaneofibular ligament injury, while the semi-rigid ankle brace is more suitable for collegiate students who have a history of anterior talofibular ligament injury.