Meta-analyses of the effect of flossing on ankle range of motion and power jump performance

Abstract

Decreased ankle range of motion (ROM) leads to many disorders, ranging in severity from gait abnormalities to knee and pelvis injuries. Therefore, maintaining full ankle ROM is very important, especially for athletes, for whom ankle ROM may affect their results during competitions. Medical flossing is a technique used by physiotherapists to improve ROM. The aim of this review was to investigate the effect of medical flossing on ankle ROM according to the results in previous studies. ‪The search was conducted with the following key words individually and/or in combinations: range of motion, flossband, mobility bands, vascular occlusion, flossing bands, compression, voodoo floss, and tack floss. F‪rom the identified 5600 articles, only 4 studies were included in this systematic review. The results showed that the mean difference in ROM after treatment was 1.20 cm (Hedge’s g = 0.31, p < 0.01, I2= 89%). ‪There is evidence showing that the application of flossing can be beneficial to increase the ROM. Moreover, some of the studies confirmed a positive impact of flossing on jump performance; nonetheless, data to confirm this effect in this review are insufficient.

Keywords

• medical flossing
• range of motion
• jump performance