Application of a Floss Band at Differing Pressure Levels: Effects at the Ankle Joint

Galis, J and Cooper, DJ. Application of a floss band at differing pressure levels: Effects at the ankle joint. J Strength Cond Res 36(9): 2454–2460, 2022—The study aimed to examine the effects of different levels of pressure on ankle range of motion (ROM), strength, and power performance. A parallel-group design was used, and subjects were divided into 3 groups. After a warm-up and preintervention testing (ankle goniometry using a manual handheld goniometer and isokinetic dynamometry using a HUMAC NORM isokinetic dynamometer), subjects had underwrap (control) or a tissue flossing band, at 150 mm Hg (FLOSS₁₅₀) or 200 mm Hg (FLOSS₂₀₀) applied to one of their calves, followed by postintervention testing. Thirty university students participated and completed the testing in a university laboratory: dorsiflexion ROM (DFROM) and plantarflexion ROM (PFROM), peak torque, and power. A repeated-measures analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc showed no statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) preintervention to postintervention between each group, except for DFROM in FLOSS₁₅₀ (p < 0.05). Medium and small effect sizes preintervention to postintervention were associated with improvements of DFROM (0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.39–0.83) and dorsiflexion power (0.29; 95% CI −0.13 to 0.72), respectively, in FLOSS₁₅₀, while the effect size of PFROM preintervention to postintervention was −0.35 (95% CI −0.85 to 0.15) in FLOSS₂₀₀. Tissue flossing of the ankle joint may be a useful intervention for increasing dorsiflexion ROM and power, which can be useful for injury prevention, enhancing performance and improving functional ability; however, the potentially harmful effects of the technique should be considered.