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Kinesio tape improves dynamic balance

Sunku Kwon, LAT, ATC, an athletic trainer from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, presented research on May 27 at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in San Diego, CA, showing Kinesio tape improved dynamic balance in all directions of the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) in 32 participants with functional ankle instability (FAI).

The researchers for the cross-sectional study recruited 13 men and 19 women (age 21 ± 1 years) with FAI and applied Kinesio tape to their ankles using a combination of five taping methods.

They tested the tape’s effects on SEBT reach distances (anteromedial, medial, and posteromedial directions) before taping, immediately after taping, on day three of wear, and immediately after tape removal.

They found significant improvements in dynamic balance in all three directions except between the day-three taped timepoint and after tape removal, also on day three. The power for all three variables was high (.906-.998), with moderate effect sizes, from .364 to .544.

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