Kinesio Tape and Shoulder-Joint Position Sense.

CONTEXT Joint position sense (JPS) is a key neuromuscular factor for developing and maintaining control of muscles around a joint. It is important when performing specialized tasks, especially at the shoulder. No researchers have studied how Kinesio Tape (KT) application affects JPS. OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of KT application and no tape on shoulder JPS at increasing shoulder elevations in athletes. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING University laboratory. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS A total of 27 healthy athletes who did not participate in overhead sports (age = 20.44 ± 1.05 years, height = 175.02 ± 11.67 cm, mass = 70.74 ± 9.65 kg) with no previous pathologic shoulder conditions volunteered for the study. All participants were from 1 university. INTERVENTION(S) Shoulder JPS was assessed at increasing elevations with and without KT application. Participants attempted to actively replicate 3 target positions with and without the KT and without visual guidance. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) We examined absolute and variable repositioning errors at increasing shoulder-elevation levels with and without KT application. RESULTS Data revealed an interaction between tape and position for absolute error (F2,52 = 4.07, P = .02); simple effects revealed an increase in error, with KT demonstrating a 2.65° increase in error at 90° of elevation compared with no tape (t26 = 2.65, P = .01). The effect size was medium (ω(2) = .135). Variable error showed no interaction of tape and position (F2,52 = .709, P = .50). Further analysis of simple effects was not needed. However, we still calculated the effect size and observed small effect sizes for tape (ω(2) = .002), position (ω(2) = .072), and tape by position (ω(2) = .027). CONCLUSIONS At 90° of elevation, shoulder JPS was impaired by the application of KT.