ORIGINAL ARTICLE  SPORT INJURIES AND REHABILITATION 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2021 April;61(4):582-91

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.20.11264-7

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Ankle-knee coupling responses to ankle Kinesio™ taping during single-leg drop landings in collegiate athletes with chronic ankle instability

Javad SARVESTAN ¹ ✉, Peyman AGHAIE ATAABADI ², Zdeněk SVOBODA ¹, Zuzana KOVAČIKOVA ¹, Alan R. NEEDLE ³

¹ Department of Natural Sciences in Kinanthropology, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacky University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic; ² Department of Biomechanics and Sports Injuries, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran; ³ Department of Health and Exercise Science, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA

BACKGROUND: Ankle Kinesio-taping (KT) is being globally used an intervention to provide the ankle joint complex with sufficient support against sudden excessive mechanical stress during various activities. However, its effects on proximal joints are unclear. This study investigated the impact of ankle KT on ankle-knee joint coupling in sagittal, frontal and transverse planes.
METHODS: Adopting a pretest post-test study design, 30 collegiate athletes with chronic ankle instability performed 3 single-leg drop landings in each non-taped and Kinesio-taped conditions and their movement kinematics were recorded using 6 optoelectronic cameras.
RESULTS: The ankle angular velocities in sagittal (P=0.038, d=0.64) and transverse planes (P=0.001, d=0.95) decreased after KT application, while the knee internal rotation velocities increased (P=0.020, d=0.51). The coupling angles revealed that the ankle movement ratios significantly decreased in 3 planes in comparison with knee movement ratios.
CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes of this study illustrated that application of ankle KT leaves the individuals with a stiffer ankle joint, which increases the mechanical stresses to this joint and decreases its stiffness in absorbing the applied shocks. Further, ankle KT application resulted in more knee internal rotation moments and may increase the risk of knee injuries during landing after a long-term usage in patients with instability ankle sprain.

KEY WORDS: Lower extremities; Therapeutics; Biomechanical phenomena; Sports