Mechanical Power And Velocity Following Cryotherapy And Ankle Taping

• Published in: Journal of athletic training 2001-01, Vol.36 (2), p.S-89
• Main Authors: Hatzel, B M, Weidner, T G, Gehlsen, G, Hazen, NA, Kaminski, T W
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1062-6050

Athletic trainers frequently are required to design rehabilitation and treatment programs for injured athletes. These treatment programs often involve the use of cryotherapy and ankle taping. The purpose of this study was to identify the individual and simultaneous effects of ankle taping and cryotherapy on mechanical power and velocity. Sixteen Division I baseball players (age = 20.5 plus or minus 1.2 yr., wt. = 89.6 plus or minus 10.8 kg, ht. = 185.0 plus or minus 8.7 cm) were randomly assigned to each of three conditions (cryotherapy, ankle tape, combination) using a Latin Square. The ankle tape treatment consisted of a standard closed basket-weave technique, using porous 1.5" cloth athletic tape. A twenty-minute ice immersion at 10 degree C to the leg and ankle was chosen as the mode for cryotherapy treatment. In the combination condition, both therapies were administered with the ice immersion preceding ankle taping. The effects of these treatments on mechanical power (watts) and velocity (cm/sec) were measured using a 16-channel Kistler (Kistler Instrument Corporation, Amherst, NY) amplifier with force plate platform at 500 Hz during the execution of a single-leg vertical jump. Mechanical power assessed peak force upon take-off, while velocity assessed time to that peak force during the single-leg vertical jump maneuver. Separate repeated measures ANOVA's were used to analyze the power and velocity data. The power values ranged from 1032.1 W to 4210.7 W. The velocity values ranged from 117.4 cm/sec to 300.1 cm/sec. The results indicated a main effect for test in the power ANOVA (pre = 2942.9 W > post = 2592.6 W), while there were no significant interactions or main effects involved in the velocity ANOVA. These findings suggest that power decreased pre to post treatment, however the exact cause of that reduction cannot be specified to any one of the three treatment interventions. It is important to remember that the main effect pools data from all three treatment interventions into one value for comparison. This may suggest that any combination of these treatment interventions may have a detrimental effect on mechanical power performance. Interestingly, time to generate peak force following any combination of these treatments does not appear to be adversely affected. We still urge clinicians to exercise caution when allowing athletes to return to activities requiring power performance participation immediately following ice immersion, ankle taping, or