Significance of Dorsiflexor Training Along with Balance Disc on Jumping Performance and Ankle Functional Ability Among Volleyball Players

Abstract

Background: Injuries in the volleyball players are more specific and ankle is one of the most common sites to get injured which is lateral ankle sprain which occur around the net during blocking and spiking. Decreased ROM in the dorsiflexors lead to imbalance and ankle injury this limits the further jumping performance of the volleyball players. Purpose: To find out the significance of Dorsiflexor training along with balance disc on Jumping performance and Ankle functional ability among Volleyball players. Methods: study design was an experimental study; A 30 volleyball players were selected from Indira Gandhi sports academy (Pondicherry). They were allocated into two group, group A(n=15) dorsiflexor training with balance disc, Group B (n=15) warm up exercise alone, 3 days/week for 4 weeks, the outcome measure were vertical jump test (VJT) and functional ankle ability measure (FAAM) were measured in pre and post-test for 4-week period. Result: Data analysis was done by paired ‘t’ test for within the group and unpaired ‘t’ test for between the group analysis respectively, the statistical analysis done with unpaired ‘t’ test between the group A and group B analysis shown significant (p<0.0001) which shows that the group A must be more significant than group B, it has been concluded that group A shows improvement in jumping performance and ankle functional ability with the outcome measure than group B. Conclusion: This study concludes that the dorsiflexor training along with balance disc for group A shows more significant improvement in jumping performance than the conventional exercise in group B. Key words: Balance disc, vertical jump test, functional ankle ability measure, jumping performance.