Does ankle Kinesio Taping® application improve static and dynamic balance in healthy trained semi-professional soccer male players? A single blinded randomized placebo controlled crossover study

Objectives. - Purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Kinesio Taping (KT) in healthy semi-professional soccer players in both static and dynamic balances thorough a single blinded randomized placebo controlled crossover study. Equipment and methods Fifteen healthy male soccer players from the same team (A.C. Fucecchio) were recruited on a voluntary basis and evaluated in mid-season. A force platform was used to record forces and centre of pressure (CoP) data. Twenty seconds one-legged stance test was used to analyse static balance. For dynamic balancing test, subjects performed maximal vertical jump with both legs, landing on dominant limb, trying to balance as quickly as possible. Tasks were evaluated using CoP derived data as sway area, displacements in anterior-posterior and medio-lateral directions, total path length. In addition, time-to-stabilisation and jump height were evaluated only for dynamic task. Participants completed proposed tasks in three different conditions: tape, no-tape and placebo conditions, whose sequence was selected using computer-generated randomization. Results. - No significant differences between testing conditions were founded for all parameters investigated (P > 0.05). Conclusion. - KT was not effective in improving both static and dynamic balances, otherwise showing no significant difference when compared to no-tape and placebo conditions. This may suggest that KT should not be used when the aim is to improve balance in healthy players focusing on ankle injury prevention. (C) 2021 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.