Summer Olympics
By John M. Martinez, M.D.

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John M. Martinez, M.D.
Level: Basic PLUS

Sports medicine physician and medical director of Coastal Sports and Wellness Medical Center, a sports injury clinic in San Diego, CA...

The focus on USA Olympic Beach Volleyball player Kerri Walsh's right shoulder has piqued the public's interest about Kinesio tape.

What is Kinesio tape?

Kinesio tape is an adhesive cotton athletic tape with an elasticity that allows it to stretch up to 120% to 140% of its original length without any tension. The Kinesio tape is claimed to reduce swelling, pain and decrease muscle spasm. Invented by a Japanese chiropractor, Kenzo Kase, his taping technique has been used by sports medicine professional world-wide.

Research on Kinesio Tape

There is some limited published research on the effects of Kinesio tape and muscle or athletic function. We have reviewed several of the studies below: A 2007 study from the Department of Rehabilitation and University of Warsaw, Poland looked at the impact of Kinesio taping on muscle activity of the vastus medialis (part of the quadriceps muscle) in healthy adult volunteers. A total of 27 subjests had EMG testing of the vastus medialis before and after application of the Kinesio tape to determine if the tape had any effect on measurable muscle activity. The researchers measured muscle activity over 5 repetitions of 3 seconds of muscle contraction followed by 3 seconds of muscle relaxation.

On the first day of taping, they did not see an appreciable difference in muscle activity in the short term (ten minutes after applying the Kinesio tape). However, after 24 hours of wearing the Kinesio tape, they did see a measurable increase of muscle activity of 54% from initial testing. This increase in muscle activity and peak torque from the Kinesio tape would be higher than expected due to simply day-to-day fluctuants of muscle activity as reported in previous studies. After 24 hours, the researchers removed the tape and continued to measure peak muscle torque at 72 and 96 hours to determine if there was a lasting effect from the Kinesio tape. Interesting, they found that there was still an increase in the peak muscle torque and muscle recruitment at 72 hours from the initial Kinesio tape application and 48 hours after removing the Kinesio tape. This finding would suggest that the mechanical properties of the Kinesio tape itself while on the skin are not the only contributing factors to increasing muscular activity. This study, while apparently well done, only targeted subjects without any knee pain or injury. It would be have been interesting to compare uninjured and injured groups in this study.

A more recent study published in the Journal of Sports Physical Therapy in July 2008 by US Army physical therapists found the Kinseo taping helped with increasing shoulder range on motion in subjects diagnosed with rotator cuff tendonitis. The subjects studied either had Kinesio tape applied in a specific pattern to the affected shoulder or had "sham" Kinesio taping to the shoulder that was not designed to facilitate and improve shoulder range of motion.

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