What is it about?

Have you heard that people with flat feet cannot jump high or even induce a negative impact on sports performance? If we correct the dropped foot arch, will this help enhance the jumping performance or the use of lower limb muscles such as our butt? This study will provide you with good insight regarding the impact of using a taping method called "low-dye" correcting and supporting the dropped foot arch on the jumping performance, ankle reaction, and also the ability in using certain lower limb muscles. Interestingly, we found that low-dye taping could potentially enhance the ankle reaction or stiffness (technically called the reactive strength index) and also the activation capabilities of certain gluteal and ankle muscles. On the other hand, using such a taping method did not negatively influence the vertical jump performance.

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Why is it important?

People always believe that sub-optimal foot alignments may induce negative impacts on the entire kinetic chain including the knee and hip positions, muscle activation, and relevant performance. Although this study did not directly provide evidence on using such a low-dye taping method in correcting the flat feet problem can genuinely reduce the risk of lower limb injuries and enhance basketball performance. Our preliminary finding may give some insights that correcting dropped foot arch using such a handy taping method on one hand provide some potential benefits on performance enhancement and injury prevention for jumping athletes, on the other hand, it did not significantly jeopardize the jumping capability.

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This page is a summary of: Low-dye taping may enhance physical performance and muscle activation in basketball players with overpronated feet, PLoS ONE, October 2022, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275178.
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