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SportsClosed Basketweave Taping
Twenty flashcards on the closed basketweave ankle taping: materials, position, each strip in order and which parts limit motion most.
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20 cards
- Which injury mechanism does this taping help prevent?
- Excessive inversion, or inversion with plantar flexion, of the ankle.
- Materials for the closed basketweave?
- Adherent spray or tincture of benzoin, underwrap, 1.5-inch white tape, heel and lace pads with lubricant.
- How should the skin be prepared?
- Clean and free of oils and lotion; shaving improves stability but is not required.
- Why use heel and lace pads?
- To prevent friction and the blisters it causes.
- How much underwrap?
- Just enough to barely overlap; too much underwrap reduces stability.
- Ankle position during taping?
- Slightly everted or neutral, at 90 degrees of dorsiflexion.
- Where do the anchors go?
- Around the distal shin about 6 to 8 inches above the malleoli, plus one around the midfoot.
- How are the shin anchors laid?
- Three strips, each torn and started anew, moving down half a tape width.
- Care point with the midfoot anchor?
- Avoid undue tension over the fifth metatarsal.
- Path of a stirrup?
- From the medial shin anchor, down over the medial malleolus, under the heel and up over the lateral malleolus.
- Path of a horseshoe?
- From the lateral foot anchor, back around the Achilles across both malleoli to the medial foot anchor.
- How is the basketweave effect created?
- By alternating stirrups with horseshoes.
- How many stirrups and horseshoes, with what overlap?
- Three of each, every strip overlapping the last by half a tape width.
- Path of the figure 8?
- From the lace area toward the inner arch, under the foot, up the outer side, across the front, around the Achilles and back.
- Path of a lateral heel lock?
- From the lace area under the foot, angled back to the lateral heel, pulled snug around the Achilles and back.
- Order after the horseshoes?
- Figure 8, lateral heel lock, medial heel lock, then repeat that sequence.
- How is the taping closed out?
- A circle just above the malleoli, repeated 3 to 5 times moving up, plus 1 or 2 around the midfoot.
- Final check of the taping?
- Look for windows, gaps, neatness, support, comfort and function.
- Lab study: which parts significantly limited ankle motion?
- Stirrups, heel locks and figure 8s limited inversion, dorsiflexion and plantar flexion.
- And the horseshoes?
- They did not significantly restrict any motion; heel locks plus figure 8s worked as well as the full basketweave.
Official sources
The University of West Alabama, Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Center
Ankle Taping for Prevention of the Inversion Ankle Sprain (closed basketweave)
Indiana University Bloomington, IUScholarWorks
Assessing the effectiveness of the stirrup, horseshoe, heel-lock and figure-8 components of the closed basketweave ankle taping method (2011)
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