The acute effect of kinesio taping on hamstring extensibility in university students

Objectives: The aim and rationale of our study was to determine the acute effect of kinesio taping on theextensibility of the hamstring muscle among university students.Design: An intra-subject experimental design was used to evaluate the possible acute effects of KT using the Xshapedtaping technique in order to affect hamstring muscle extensibility.Method: Forty-three healthy university students (age 21.98 ± 4.68 years, body mass 71.50 ± 13.49 kg, height172.35 ± 8.17 cm) were assessed for hamstring flexibility. All participants had both legs tested under threedifferent randomly ordered conditions (kinesio tape, sham tape and control) using the Passive Straight Leg RaiseTest. All measurements were made during the same testing session. Participants performed three sets of tests,each set measured twice, to determine hamstring extensibility in both legs. There was a 12 minute rest periodbetween each set and a one minute break between each repetition.Results: An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measurements showed no statistically significantdifferences either in the right (p=0.503) or the left leg (p=0.948) between the three study conditions.Conclusions: The application of kinesio taping does not seem to acutely increase hip flexion range of motion inhealthy subjects.