title: A pilot study of the effect of Kinesiology tape on knee proprioception after physical activity in healthy women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Kinesiology tape has gained significant popularity in recent years and is widely used as an adjunct for treatment and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries. However, evidence regarding its influence on knee proprioception is scarce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Kinesiology tape on knee proprioception after physical activity in healthy women. It was hypothesized that Kinesiology tape enhances knee proprioception.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal analysis, pretest-posttest design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve young women with healthy knees were tested for knee proprioception without the use of Kinesiology tape and wearing Kinesiology tape at the knee. The joint position sense was measured at the start and after a 30-min uphill walking protocol on a treadmill. Outcome was the knee angle deviation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant difference of proprioceptive performance between the application with Kinesiology tape and without Kinesiology tape was found after uphill walking (p > 0.05). However, when the participants' results for knee angle deviation were graded into good (< 6.1°) and poor ( > 6.1°), Kinesiology tape significantly enhanced those with poor proprioceptive ability after uphill walking, compared to the untaped knee (p = 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has shown that the application of Kinesiology tape did not improve knee proprioception in a group of healthy young women. However, it also has demonstrated that Kinesiology tape provided significant proprioceptive enhancement at the knee joint after uphill walking in healthy women with poor proprioceptive ability. This may support its use in sports medicine for preventing knee injuries.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Technology of Ski and Alpine Sports, Innsbruck, Austria. Electronic address: Simona.Hosp@uibk.ac.at.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hosp
authors.affiliation: Centre of Technology of Ski and Alpine Sports, Innsbruck, Austria; Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Giuliamarta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bottoni
authors.affiliation: Centre of Technology of Ski and Alpine Sports, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Heinrich
authors.affiliation: Centre of Technology of Ski and Alpine Sports, Innsbruck, Austria; Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kofler
authors.affiliation: Centre of Technology of Ski and Alpine Sports, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasler
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nachbauer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055052:Athletic Tape; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011187:Posture; D011434:Proprioception; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Fatigue; Joint position sense; Kinesiology tape; Knee joint; Proprioception