Kinesiotaping and jumping performance: an acute study

AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the application of the Kinesiotaping (KT) with the compression method (the tape is extended and the muscle contracted before the application) on the quadriceps and the triceps surae muscles would improve the explosive strength measured on the basis of the vertical jump. METHODS Ten male tennis players (age 16±1 years, weight 63±8 kg, height 176±10 cm) were studied. The tests were carried out within a week and in two different experimental conditions: with and without the KT Sports Tex (Atex Medical Co. Ltd, Korea) applied on the muscles. The first group was tested on Tuesday with the KT and on Friday without it. The second group did tests in the opposite order. The athletes performed the following test in the same order: Squat Jump (SJ), Countermovement Jump (CMJ), Countermovement Jump with free arms (CMJFA) and 15-seconds of jumps. During the tests the Myotest (MVM, Italy) device belted on the hip was used by the subjects. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Data with and without the use of the KT were compared for each subject using the non-parametric Wilcoxon test. The analysis were carried out using the GraphPad programme (GraphPad Software, Inc., USA). The level of significance "P" was fixed at 0.05. The percentage difference of the performance of jump with and without the KT was calculated as follows: ((NKT-KT) / KT) * 100 where NKT = without tape; KT = with tape. RESULTS Differences in height jumps with and without the use of KT were observed in the range -1,9%, +1%, but resulted not statistically significant. DISCUSSION The results obtained in this study showed that the KT applied to the quadriceps muscle and the triceps surae muscle using the compression method did not improve vertical jump performance.