Objective Lateral ankle sprains (LAS) are common among athletes and can result in a high rate of reinjury and Chronic Ankle Instability (CAI). CAI  can affect dynamic stability in athletes. On the other hand, fatigue can disrupt dynamic stability in injured as well as healthy athletes. Recent studies support the use of taping and braces in subjects with chronic ankle instability. Nonetheless, it is not known if applying ankle taping can improve dynamic stability in fatigued people. So the goal of this research is to study the effect of ankle taping and fatigue on dynamic stability in female athletes with and without chronic ankle instability.
Materials & Methods Twenty  female athletes including 10 subjects with chronic ankle instability (age 22.02±1.98 years, height 163.80±2.74 cm, weight 58.68±7.10 kg, FADI 80.78±1.03% and FADI Sport 65.10±1.75%) and 10 healthy subjects (age 21.70±0.67 years, height 162.90±5.06 cm, weight 59.10±7.04 kg, FADI and FADI Sport 100%) participated in two separate testing sessions.  Different conditions (no taping and with closed basket-weave ankle taping) were applied at each session . Three trials of a jump landing task were performed under each condition before and after induced functional fatigue. The jump-landing task involved a single-leg landing onto a force plate from a height equivalent to 50 percent of each participant’s maximal jump height and from a starting position 70 cm from the center of the force plate. The functional fatigue protocol comprised three stations: Modified Southeast Missouri (SEMO) agility drill, stationary lunges, and quick jumps. The participants continued to run through each station until the time to finish the stations increased by 50% compared with their baseline timed runs. Time to stabilization was measured in the anterior-posterior (APTTS), medial-lateral (MLTTS) and vertical directions. Three separate repeated-measure analyses of variance with two within-subjects factor (condition and time) were performed for each dependent variable in each group..
Results The results of this investigation revealed that in healthy athletes group, the difference between MLTTS and vertical TTS was statistically significant {f=7.52, P=0.001}, {f=9.69, P=0.004}. Bonferroni post hoc testing revealed faster pretest MLTTS than posttest for taping condition and faster pretest vertical TTS than posttest for no taping condition. In injured athletes group, the difference between MLTTS and vertical TTS was statistically significant {f=10.57, P=0.001}, {f=14.27, P=0.001}. This testing also revealed faster pretest MLTTS than posttest for no taping condition, faster pretest vertical TTS than posttest for both conditions, and faster vertical TTS after taping than before taping.
Conclusion In the athletes with chronic ankle instability, taping without fatigue improved dynamic balance in the vertical direction. Taping after fatigue could not improve dynamic stability in the athletes with and without chronic ankle instability. Future researchers should examine injured and uninjured participants tested under these conditions to determine if these results are useful in selecting appropriate prophylactic method that can treat or prevent injury to the ankle during functional activities.