Kinesiology Taping does not Modify Electromyographic Activity or Muscle Flexibility of Quadriceps Femoris Muscle: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study in Healthy Volleyball Players

Source of support: Departmental sources Background: Kinesiology taping (KT) is a popular method of supporting professional athletes during sports activities, trau-matic injury prevention, and physiotherapeutic procedures after a wide range of musculoskeletal injuries. The effectiveness of KT in muscle strength and motor units recruitment is still uncertain. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of KT on surface electromyographic (sEMG) activity and muscle flexibility of the rec-tus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), and vastus medialis (VM) muscles in healthy volleyball players. Material/Methods: Twenty-two healthy volleyball players (8 men and 14 women) were included in the study and randomly as-signed to 2 comparative groups: “kinesiology taping ” (KT; n=12; age: 22.30±1.88 years; BMI: 22.19±4.00 kg/m2) in which KT application over the RF muscle was used, and “placebo taping ” (PT; n=10; age: 21.50±2.07 years; BMI: 22.74±2.67 kg/m2) in which adhesive nonelastic tape over the same muscle was used. All subjects were analyzed for resting sEMG activity of the VL and VM muscles, resting and functional sEMG activity of RF mus-cle, and muscle flexibility of RF muscle. Results: No significant differences in muscle flexibility of the RF muscle and sEMG activity of the RF, VL, and VM muscles were registered before and after interventions in both groups, and between the KT and PT groups (p>0.05)