The Effectiveness of Kinesio Taping in Recovering from Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness: A Cross-Over Study.

Kinesio taping (KT) is a popular taping technique used in the recovery process; however, in the relevant literature, there is no real consensus on its efficacy.To investigate whether rectus femoris KT application after DOMS enhances recovery of muscle soreness, edema, and physical performance.Twenty-two healthy amateur male athletes participated in this study.Randomized, crossover study.Human Performance Laboratory of the University.Participants performed an exercise protocol inducing DOMS. They accomplished two distinct trials, with or without KT. The washout period between trials was 6 wk. For the KT condition, KT inhibition technique was used and applied immediately after exercise bilaterally on rectus femoris.Range of motion, muscle soreness, and edema were measured at baseline, 30 min, 24, 48, and 72 h post-exercise. Dynamic balance, sprint, and horizontal jump were evaluated at similar time frame except for 30 min post-exercise.The findings showed that there were no significant differences between the KT group (KTG) and control group (CG) for all the outcome variables (p>0.05). Muscle soreness returned to baseline values 72 h post-exercise only within the KTG (p>0.05). Although the horizontal jump performance decreased substantially from baseline to 24 and 48 h post-exercise only within the CG (p<0.05), the performance increased significantly from 24 to 72 h post-exercise within the KTG (p<0.05). Balance increased significantly from baseline to 48 h post-exercise (p<0.05) in both groups. Balance also increased significantly from baseline to 72 h post-exercise only within the KTG (p<0.05). The effect size of soreness which is our primary outcome was large in both groups (r>0.5).KT is favorable in the recovery of muscle soreness after DOMS. KT has beneficial effects on horizontal jump performance and dynamic balance.