Effect of foam roller, kinesiotaping and dynamic stretching on gait parameters with induced ankle muscle fatigue

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of foam roller (FR) stretching, kinesiotaping (KT), and dynamic stretching (DS) on gait parameters after inducing muscle fatigue in the ankle joint. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: The subjects were thirty healthy young adults between the ages of 20 and 31 years at Baekseok University who voluntarily participated in this study. The participants were randomly assigned to either the FR group, KT group, or the DS group after inducing muscle fatigue of the ankle joint. Fatigue induction of the ankle joint muscles was performed by alternating a heel up and down exercise with the standing posture on the ground. The speed was maintained at 40 beats/minute using a metronome. Subsequently, the respective intervention was applied to each group. Gait parameters were measured before and after ankle muscle fatigue induction, and after intervention using the GAITRite system. One-way ANOVA was used to compare gait parameters among groups, while repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare gait parameters within each intervention group. Results: The FR group increased significantly in velocity, step length, and stride length except for cadence after intervention compared to after ankle muscle fatigue induction (p<0.01). Furthermore, the KT group showed significant increases in velocity, cadence, step length, and stride length after intervention, especially in cadence group (p<0.05). All intervention groups showed significant increases in stride length after intervention, especially the DS group (p<0.05). Conclusions: Therefore, we suggest that KT, FR, and DS can be an effective intervention on gait parameters when the ankle joint is unstable and injured.