Effects Of Ankle Braces On Athletic Performance Of Badminton Players With History Of Ankle Sprain

PURPOSE: Athletes usually wear protective gear after an ankle injury to facilitate rehabilitation and prevent further injury. While the protective gear limits the range of motion to protect the injured ankle, it may negatively affect the athletes’ performance by hindering their balance control. Choosing protective gear that provides sufficient protection to the injured ankle while minimizing the impact on performance is crucial. This current study aimed to examine the effects of various protective gear, namely elastic, semi-rigid and new generation 3D printed customized protective gears compare with the no brace group on the performance of male badminton athletes. METHODS: 18 male badminton players in college with at least one history of an itemized unilateral ankle sprain were recruited. They wear different protective gear in random order to test athletic performance in terms of agility (vertical jumping) and stability (Y-balance dynamic ability test). The data were first tested for normality using Shapiro-Wilk and analyzed using one-way ANOVA for each of the test metrics data. RESULTS: The athletes with 3D printed customized protective gear (MD = 10.27 cm, 95%CI [5.56 to 14.97], p < 0.01) and semi-rigid protective gear (MD = 5.20 cm, 95%CI [0.49 to 9.91], p = 0.031) perform significantly better in vertical jump compared with the no brace group. In the Y-balance dynamic ability test, the athletes wearing the customized brace (MD = 8.09, 95%CI [4.32 to 11.86], p < 0.01) perform significantly better in the stability compared with the no brace group. CONCLUSIONS: This study concludes that 3D customized protective gears have the best effect on vertical jumping and stability in badminton players with a history of ankle sprain.