The objective of this study was to determine whether Mulligan ankle tape influenced the performance in subjects with unilateral chronic ankle instability (CAI) during static balance; postural sway recovery patterns after hopping and dynamic tracking balance tasks. 20 volunteer recreational athletes with unilateral CAI were recruited and underwent a cross-sectional, within-subjects experimental study design between 4 ankle conditions (taped; untaped: injured and uninjured). Outcome measures were static balance (10 s); postural sway recovery patterns after a 30 s functional hop test (immediately, 30 and 60 s); dynamic tracking balance tasks (wandering, target overshoot and reaction-time). Between the four conditions, static balance showed no significant differences; significant changes occurred in postural sway over time; no significant changes were reported for the dynamic tracking tasks. Wandering was highly correlated with reaction-time and overshooting.
Under resting and fatigued conditions, Mulligan ankle taping did not impact on the neuromuscular control during static and dynamic balance in subjects with healthy and unstable ankles.