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t he ankle joint is the most commonly injured joint during sports participation. 3,13,14,19 The most recent National Collegiate Athletic Association injury data over 16 years (1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004) showed that ankle ligamentous injuries represent the highest injury rate at 14.9% of all reported injuries in 15 sports, ranging from 2.8% of all injuries for women's ice hockey to 26.6% for men's basketball. 19 Basketball, volleyball, soccer, and lacrosse are among the sports with the highest ankle injury rate. It was reported that up to 80% t Study deSign: Controlled laboratory study.t objectiveS: To examine effectiveness of an ankle brace with a subtalar locking system in restricting ankle inversion during passive and dynamic movements.t background: Semirigid ankle braces are considered more effective in restricting ankle inversion than other types of brace, but a semirigid brace with a subtalar locking system may be even more effective.t MethodS: Nineteen healthy subjects with no history of major lower extremity injuries were included in the study. Participants performed 5 trials of an ankle inversion drop test and a lateralcutting movement without wearing a brace and while wearing either the Element (with the subtalar locking system), a Functional ankle brace, or an ASO ankle brace. A 2-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess brace differences (P.05).t reSultS: All 3 braces significantly reduced total passive ankle frontal plane range of motion (ROM), with the Element ankle brace being the most effective. For the inversion drop the results showed significant reductions in peak ankle inversion angle and inversion ROM for all 3 braces compared to the no brace condition; and the peak inversion velocity was also reduced for the Element brace and the Functional brace. In the lateral-cutting movement, a small but significant reduction of the peak inversion angle in early foot contact and the peak eversion velocity at push-off were seen when wearing the Element and the Functional ankle braces compared to the no brace condition. Peak vertical ground reaction force was reduced for the Element brace compared to the ASO brace and the no brace conditions. t concluSionS: These results suggest that the tested ankle braces, especially the Element brace, provided effective restriction of ankle inversion during both passive and dynamic movements.

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The results from this study showed that the IS landing protocol produced significantly earlier maximum inversion angle and velocity and inversion velocities compared with the inversion drop protocol. These results showed that the IS landing is more demanding and should be considered in future investigations of ankle braces and lateral ankle performance/injury mechanisms.