The Effect of Ankle Kinesio Tape on Ankle Muscle Activity During a Drop Landing

Abstract

Context: The use of Kinesio Tape among health care professional has grown recently in efforts to efficiently prevent and treat joint injuries. However, limited evidence exists regarding the efficacy of this technique in enhancing joint stability and neuromuscular control.

Objective: To determine how Kinesio Tape application to the ankle joint alters forces and muscle activity during a drop-jump maneuver.

Design: Single-group pretest- posttest.

Setting: University laboratory.

Subjects: 22 healthy adults with no previous history of ankle injury.

Interventions: Participants were instrumented with electromyography on the lower-leg muscles as they jumped from a 35-cm platform onto force plates. Test trials were performed without tape (BL), immediately after application of Kinesio Tape to the ankle (KT-I), and after 24 h of continued use (KT-24).

Main outcome measures: Peak ground-reaction forces (GRFs) and time to peak GRF were compared across taping conditions, and the timing and amplitude of muscle activity from the tibialis anterior, peroneus longus, and lateral gastrocnemius were compared across taping conditions.

Results: No significant differences in amplitude or timing of GRFs were observed (P > .05). However, muscle activity was observed to decrease from BL to KT-I in the tibialis anterior (P = .027) and from BL to KT-24 in the PL (P = .022).

Conclusions: The data suggest that Kinesio Tape decreases muscle activity in the ankle during a drop-jump maneuver, although no changes in GRFs were observed. This is contrary to the proposed mechanisms of Kinesio Tape. Further research might investigate how this affects participants with a history of injury.