Effects of different pressure midfoot wraps on balance and proprioception in amateur basketball athletes

Results indicated that during balance tests on foam padding, participants demonstrated significantly longer standing time when wearing low-pressure midfoot wraps, compared to high-pressure wraps (<i>F</i> (3,63) = 4.32, <i>p</i> = 0.008, <i>η</i> ² = 0.17). Wearing high-pressure wraps reduced anterior-posterior dynamic stability index variability (<i>F</i> (3,63) = 3.89, <i>p</i> = 0.044, <i>η</i> ² = 0.16), suggesting enhanced sagittal-plane control. Intriguingly, high-pressure conditions evidenced convergent activation trends between medial and lateral gastrocnemius (GM/GL ratio shift from 1.3 to 1.0), albeit without statistical significance (<i>p</i> > 0.05). No significant difference was detected in joint position sense in ankle dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, eversion and inversion between different wrap conditions (<i>p</i> > 0.05). These findings suggest that low-pressure midfoot wraps may improve balance through enhanced cutaneous feedback, while high-pressure wraps enhance anterior-posterior dynamic stability, providing biomechanically informed strategies for ankle injury prevention in basketball.