METHODS
Participants
In the autumn season, all athletes in men’s American football,
men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball were
invited to participate from one high school and three local
colleges. Athletes were enrolled prospectively during the PPE,
when the primary investigator was available. From this
convenience sample, 230 male and female athletes were
screened at the end of their PPE using the SLB test. The
primary investigator was a clinician who evaluated all athletes’
SLB tests and was blinded to the PPE results. Athletes were
excluded from the study if they were not cleared for athletics
without restriction during the PPE for any reason, if they had
any previous ankle fracture, or if they had an ankle sprain
within the previous six weeks. No athlete wore ankle braces
during the study. Participants with a history of ankle taping
were requested to continue to tape. The participants were
followed for 14 weeks until the completion of the fall season.