Background Muscle fatigue is common in sports activities and has been shown to adversely alter proprioception, impair neuromuscular control, and increase the risk of injury. Kinesiotaping has recently gained popularity among sports professionals for its assumed injury prevention and performance enhancement (1). Two studies have reported conflicting findings with respect to the effects of KT on proprioception. Halseth et al reported that KT produced no significant change in the absolute error in ankle joint position sense (2). However, Chang et al reported that KT decreased the force sense error in grip strength measurements among 21 healthy college athletes (3). Thus, the current literature does not provide clear information about the effects of KT on proprioception. Although there are published articles about investigating KT on joint position sense and postural stability, the effects of KT is still unknown after muscle fatigue, to our knowledge.

Objectives There is a lack of literature examining the KT on joint position sense and postural stability following fatigue protocol. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of KT on knee joint position sense and postural stability after muscle fatigue. It was hypothesized that KT applied on quadriceps femoris muscle would partially compensate for the proprioceptive and balance-related deficits caused by muscle fatigue.

Methods Thirty – six healthy subjects were evaluated in the study. Knee joint position sense was assessed by Biodex System Pro 4 during active repositioning tests at the target angles of 30^o, 50^o and 70^o of knee flexion in sagittal plane. Postural stability was assessed by Pedalo Sensamove® System in antero – posterior and medio – lateral plane. Joint position sense and postural stability were assessed three times: during rest, following the fatigue protocol, and following the taping. The subjects were received a clinically-used fatigue protocol on a cycle ergometer. The Modified Borg's Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale has been used for fatigue determination.

Results Joint position sense and postural stability were significantly decreased following fatigue compared to the condition during rest (p<0.05). However, no significant difference was found in terms of joint position sense and postural stability after taping compared to the condition following fatigue (p>0.05).

Conclusions The hypothesis of this study, that KT could partially compensate for the proprioceptive and balance-related deficits induced by muscle fatigue, was not supported. According to the results of our study, we concluded that the subjects do not benefit from the use of KT for compensating joint position sense and postural stability in condition following fatigue.

References

1. Yeung SS, Yeung EW, Sakunkaruna Y, et al. Acute effects of kinesio taping on knee extensor peak torque and electromyographic activity after exhaustive isometric knee extension in healthy young adults. Clin J Sport Med. 2015 May;25(3):284–90.

2. Halseth T, McChesney JW, DeBeliso M, et al. The effects of Kinesio taping on proprioception at the ankle. J Sports Sci Med. 2004;3:1–7.

3. Chang HY, Chou KY, Lin JJ, et al. Immediate effect of forearm Kinesio taping on maximal grip strength and force sense in healthy collegiate athletes. Phys Ther Sport. 2010;11:122–127.

References

Disclosure of Interest None declared