The immediate effects of kinesiology taping on muscle activity, functional balance, and tibial translation in anterior cruciate ligament injury: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial

Purpose: To investigate the immediate effects of kinesiology taping (KT) on anterior cruciate ligament injury (ACLI). Methods In this randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled study, 30 men with partial ACLI were randomly assigned to either KT (n=15) or placebo KT (PKT) (n=15) groups. Muscle facilitation for vastus medialis (VM) and mechanical correction of the knee was performed by KT. Pain, muscle force, and electromyography (EMG) activity of the VM, rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL) and biceps femoris (BF) that recorded during sit-to-stand (STS) and semi-squat (SS) tests. The tibial translation (TT) was also measured during maximum knee flexion (T1) and full standing (T2) in both STS and SS tests with a motion analysis system. Results : Pain decreased significantly in the KT group ( P =.04). The force of the VM, RF, and VL increased, while the EMG activity of only the VM improved in the KT group (P < .03). The weight transfer time in STS decreased (P = .006), and the maximum force during the counter movement increased in SS (P = .02) in the KT group. A statistically significant between-group difference was found in favor of the KT group in the STS test ( P =.01, η _p ² =0.23). In the T2 and SS test, the reduced TT in the KT group was almost significant (P=0.07). Conclusions : Kinesiology taping can immediately improve pain, muscle activity, and function in ACLI and could be considered a beneficial treatment for controlling TT which is compromised in ACLI.