No abstract

Background : Kinesiology taping (KT) is well known measure for preventing musculoskeletal injuries. Our study aims to explore the actual effects of KT on healthy participants’ knee proprioception and quadriceps performance within 1 h. Methods : A total of 35 healthy male amateur runners were recruited in our study. Four taping sequences were randomly allocated to four different weeks, namely, no taping, placebo taping, KT with tension, and KT with no tension. A CON-TREX isokinetic dynamometer was used in assessing the participants’ knee proprioception and muscle strength of knee extension and flexion at 60°/s. The electromyography (EMG) signals of medial oblique muscle and vastus lateralis were collected using Myon EMG system synchronously. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used in exploring the difference between taping and time effects, and the significance was set to alpha <0.05. Results : Significant interaction effect was found between the taping groups and time effect [ F (3.32) = 2.389, p = 0.029, η 2 = 0.050] in the peak torque during the concentric contraction of quadriceps. No significant interaction and no significant differences between groups and time effects in knee proprioception and muscle activation. Conclusion : The effect of KT seems insufficiently large to impose a positive effect on healthy people within short periods. Health participants may not necessarily use KT to increase muscle activation and proprioception of knee.

No abstract

Background: Kinesio taping (KT) is one of the therapeutic interventions in sports medicine practice. The study aims to assess the acute effect of different KT methods on postural control in individuals with functional ankle instability (FAI) after ankle muscle fatigue.Methods: Twenty-eight participants with FAI were recruited to complete maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) and proprioception of ankle using isokinetic dynamometer, dynamic postural control using Y-balance test and static postural control using a force platform after a fatigue protocol in four taping conditions: facilitatory KT (FKT), ankle balance taping (ABT), sham taping (ST) and no taping (NT).Results: No significant difference was observed for the data MVIC and proprioception after ankle muscle fatigue amongst the four taping treatments. A significant difference in Y-Balance Test was observed amongst the four taping treatments at posterolateral direction (p &lt; 0.001) and posteromedial direction (p &lt; 0.001), suggesting that KT may significantly improve dynamic postural control following ankle muscle fatigue. For Center of pressure (COP) measurements, the mediolateral COP sway range of NT was significantly larger than that of FKT (p = 0.003) and ST (p &lt; 0.001), suggesting that the placebo effect of KT was inevitable.Conclusion: The effect of KT seems increased dynamic postural control in individuals with FAI after ankle muscle fatigue, and this effect is not strongly related to the taping methods. By preventing fatigue-related impairments of postural control, KT may help reduce the risk of injury in individuals with FAI.

This systematic review aimed to analyse the effects of intrinsic foot muscle (IFM) training on foot function and dynamic postural balance. Keywords related to IFM training were used to search four databases (PubMed, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus and Web of Science databases.) for relevant studies published between January 2011 and February 2021. The methodological quality of the intervention studies was assessed independently by two reviewers by using the modified Downs and Black quality index. Publication bias was also assessed on the basis of funnel plots. This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021232984). Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria (10 with high quality and 6 with moderate quality). Numerous biomechanical variables were evaluated after IFM training intervention. These variables included IFM characteristics, medial longitudinal arch morphology and dynamic postural balance. This systematic review demonstrated that IFM training can exert positive biomechanical effects on the medial longitudinal arch, improve dynamic postural balance and act as an important training method for sports enthusiasts. Future studies should optimise standardised IFM training methods in accordance with the demands of different sports.