Immediate Effects of Sports Taping Applied on the Lead Knee of Low- and High-Handicapped Golfers During Golf Swing

Immediate Effect of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Protective Knee Taping on Knee Landing Mechanics and Muscle Activations during Side Hops

Athletic taping is widely used in sports to prevent injury. However, the effect of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) protective taping on neuromuscular control during dynamic tasks remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the immediate effect of ACL protective taping on landing mechanics and muscle activations during side hops in healthy individuals. Fifteen healthy individuals (11 males and 4 females; age, 23.1 ± 1.4 years; height, 175.1 ± 10.4 cm; weight, 66.3 ± 11.2 kg) volunteered to participate in this study. Landing mechanics and muscle activations were measured while each participant performed single-leg hops side-to-side for ten repetitions with and without taping. An optical motion capture system and two force plates were used to collect the kinematic and kinetic data during the side hops. Surface electromyogram recordings were performed using a wireless electromyography system. Paired t-tests were performed to determine the differences in landing mechanics and muscle activations between the two conditions (taping and non-taping). The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Compared with the non-taping condition, participants landed with a smaller knee abduction angle, greater knee external rotation angle, and smaller knee extensor moment in the taping condition. Given that greater knee abduction, internal rotation, and knee extension moment are associated with a greater risk of ACL injury, our findings suggest that ACL protective taping can have an immediate effect on dynamic knee stability. Clinicians should consider using ACL protective taping to facilitate the use of favorable landing mechanics for ACL injuries.

Acute effect of taping on plantar pressure characteristics in athletes with exercise-induced leg pain: a description and comparison of groups

OBJECTIVES

Foot pronation is considered as a potential risk factor of lower leg overuse injury. This study aimed to identify plantar pressure characteristics of elite athletes with exercise-induced leg pain in throwing athletic disciplines, and to verify the acute effect of taping for restricting foot pronation by analyzing the plantar pressure characteristics.

METHODS

This study was designed as a description and comparison of throwing athletic athletes. Participants were divided into exercise-induced leg pain (ELP group, n = 17) and control groups (CON group, n = 14). Plantar pressure variables (contact area, maximum force, and peak pressure) at eight-foot regions in athletes' supporting leg were recorded during standing on one leg and a natural walk before and after applying anti-pronation or sham taping techniques.

RESULTS

There are significant difference of contact area, maximal force, and peak pressure in some regions of their foot between the ELP and CON groups. But the anti-pronation taping decreased only the peak pressure in lateral midfoot of CON group during a natural walk (p = 0.002).

CONCLUSION

The anti-pronation taping technique may not be effective preventive strategy from the exercise-induced leg pain, such as shin splints.

Short-term effects of sports taping on navicular height, navicular drop and peak plantar pressure in healthy elite athletes: A within-subject comparison

Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) is one of the most common exercise-induced leg pain. The navicular drop (ND) was identified as a risk factor for MTSS. This study aimed to evaluate the short-term effects of sports taping applied to the supporting lower leg during sitting, standing, walking, and jogging to restrict the ND in healthy elite athletes.Twenty-four healthy elite athletes without a history of exercise-induced pain or injuries in the lower limbs participated in this study (median age: 21.00 years; 1st--3rd quartiles; 19.25-22.00). The 4 taping conditions were used: rigid taping (RT), kinesiology taping (KT), placebo taping (PT), and non-taping (NT). The order of taping techniques was randomly assigned. Normalized navicular height (NH), ND, and normalized ND evaluated using 3-dimensional motion analysis, and normalized peak plantar pressure (PP) were compared in 4 taping conditions during sitting, standing, walking, and jogging.During sitting, the normalized NH of RT is higher than that of NT, KT, and PT (χ = 17.30, P = .001), while during jogging, the normalized NH of RT is higher than that of NT and PT (χ = 10.55, P = .014). The normalized peak PP of NT is higher than that of PT (χ = 8.871, P = .031) in the lateral midfoot region.This study showed the RT technique maintained NH during sitting and jogging, and the RT technique could be an effective preventive and treatment strategy for MTSS.